


Dare you to breathe

by MagicInMe123



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: And Chloe's the cutest, Anxiety, Beca's got a rough past, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, You've probably seen this on ff but AO3 is where it's at, bechloe - Freeform, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-04-07 16:49:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14085309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicInMe123/pseuds/MagicInMe123
Summary: No matter how hard she pushed, Beca's feelings for Chloe just wouldn't go away. Bechloe





	1. Chapter 1

Beca Mitchell had been closed off for her entire life. It wasn't necessarily something she chose, it was just the way she was. Ever since her parent's horrifying divorce when she was young, Beca had held everyone in her life at arms length. The more people knew about you, the easier it was to get hurt. And in turn, Beca never let anyone get close to her.

When Beca started at Barden University, she hadn't expected anything to change. She'd planned on going through the motions and graduate to appease her father until he gave her the money he promised her. After that, she'd take off to fulfill her dream of becoming a DJ; but it didn't go according to plan. The aspiring DJ didn't expect to join the a capella group and have real friends. She didn't expect to love singing and performing. She definitely didn't expect to fall in love with anyone.

Chloe Beale. Beca remembered the first time she saw the breathtaking redhead and shockingly blue eyes, handing out posters for the singing group she was now a part of. Smiling at her next memory of her current girlfriend cornering the freshman girl the shower and demanding she sing and begging her to join the Bellas. The young DJ remembered the intense feeling of jealousy after seeing the boy naked with Chloe. She remembered the feeling of safety that immediately came over her body the first time the older girl had wrapped her arms around her. Granted, it was only to teach her the dance choreography but still.

Pushing those thoughts away, the brunette stood up and stretch, loosening her tense muscles. Aubrey had really worked them hard today. Checking the time, Beca took a quick shower and got dressed in ripped, dark skinny jeans and a button-up dark plaid shirt over a band t-shirt. Running a comb through her hair, she grabbed her keys and wallet; waving goodbye to her unfriendly roommate she walked the relatively short distance to Chloe and Aubrey's apartment.

The familiar feeling of butterflies erupted in Beca's stomach as she knocked on her girlfriend's door. Despite the fact that she'd never been with anyone before, Beca really liked being able to call Chloe her girlfriend.

"Hey babe," Chloe greeted, her eyes lighting up when she was the younger girl.

Beca smiled, she almost reached out and pulling her girlfriend into a tight hug and a kiss but she hesitated. Growing up, neither of Beca's parents paid the girl much attention and hugs weren't something Beca was used to or even comfortable with. To be completely honest, Chloe was the only person that Beca felt comfortable with at all. Chloe understood that this was Beca's first serious relationship so she let the younger girl decide the pace of their relationship.

"Hey you," Beca smiled, her heart beating erratically.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare at me or do you want to come in?" The older girl teased, wrapping her girlfriend in a tight embrace.

Beca tensed and of course Chloe noticed. She'd been meaning to bring it up, why Beca was so uncomfortable with physical contact and opening up. The two of them had been together for close to five months now.

After a moment, Beca relaxed into the taller girl's embrace, wrapping her arms around Chloe's waist and tucking her head under her chin. The redhead smiled, tightening her grip.

Aubrey cleared her throat behind them.

"You guys should probably close the door instead of just standing in the doorway hugging, it's kind of weird," Aubrey teased, closing the door behind the couple.

She and Beca didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things about the Bellas but as long as she made her best friend happy, she decided to give the brunette another chance and try to establish a real friendship. 

Chloe laughed, pulling Beca with her, she walked over the couch and placed the younger girl in her lap, keeping her arms tightly wrapped around her waist. Chloe loved holding Beca. She knew that Beca would never ever ask for comfort after a hard or stressful day or at all really.

Beca had yet to open up about her past. All Chloe really knew was that her parents had had a really nasty divorce that obviously left some scars on the girl she loved and that Beca had been neglected and starved for affection of any kind as a child. The older girl's heart broke for her girlfriend and she wanted to help her deal with her past but she didn't want to force the brunette beauty to open up or she might close herself off more. In the mean time, Chloe continued to be affectionate. She was so happy that Beca's guards were starting to come down. Aubrey was supposed to go and spend the night with Stacie so she and Beca could have the place to themselves. Chloe had been talking to Aubrey about needing Beca to open up to her more but not wanting to push her so Aubrey suggested she have her girlfriend over, she would make her subtle exit, the couple would watch a movie or something, and then Chloe could try to coax it out of her.

"Alright you guys, I'm going to head over to Stacie's place. Have a good night and for the love of God, please do not have sex on my couch," Aubrey said, only half joking.

Beca and Chloe laughed, smiling at Aubrey.

"I can't make you any guarantees," Chloe joked, winking at Beca who was now a dark shade of red.

Aubrey smiled at the two before closing the door and heading out to Stacie's.

"Well, now that we're alone…" Chloe whispered in Beca's ear.

Beca smiled and flipped around so she was straddling Chloe. Wrapping one arm around the taller girl's waist, Beca's lips met Chloe's. Chloe moaned into the kiss, pulling Beca tighter against her. The senior pushed them down so that she was now on top of her girlfriend, peppering her neck with kisses. A huge smile appeared on Chloe's face when she heard Beca gasp in pleasure and surprise. Beca reached up, tangling her fingers through her girlfriend's gorgeous red hair. As the kiss got more heated, Chloe noticed Beca becoming tense; she was still kissing her and responsive, just stiff, like something was wrong.

Confused but not wanting to overstep any unset boundaries, Chloe pulled away and gazed into the confused eyes of her girlfriend. There was an awkward moment of silence before Chloe cleared her throat and sat back, effectively ending their moment. 

"So, what do you want to do now?" Beca asked, still breathing heavily.

"Well I was thinking we could watch a movie," Chloe suggested. She knew that Beca was trying to change the topic and she let her; she would be pushing Beca enough for one night later.

"Chlo! You know I hate movies," Beca whined.

"You're adorable," Chloe chuckled at her girlfriend's pouty face. Beca grimaced, obviously objecting to being called adorable.

"Fine," Beca sighed. "One movie."

"Yes!" Chloe squealed in delight, leaning over she kissed her girlfriend's cheek, a huge grin on her face.

"Yeah well you're lucky I lov-" Beca froze. "Like you so much," she finished.

Chloe froze too. Had Beca been about to say she loved her? Why didn't she? Chloe knew that she loved Beca but she'd waiting to say it. What if Beca didn't say it back? What if it was too soon? But if Beca loved her, so why couldn't she say it? Chloe sighed and made a note to add that to the list of thing she wanted to talk about with Beca after the movie.

"So which movie?" Beca asked, awkwardly clearing her throat.

"I was thinking…John Tucker Must Die?" Chloe suggested.

"Sounds fine to me," Beca responded. Her eyes were on Chloe but the older girl could tell she was a thousand miles away in her mind. Chloe smiled in response; she put the movie in the DVD player and walked over to the couch to cuddle with her girlfriend. She laid down the couch, pulling her younger girlfriend close to her. She reached over to the remote and turned the lights off. She felt Beca tense in her arms.

"Beca? Babe what's wrong?" Chloe asked, worried. Having every muscle in your body tense up after just turning the lights out was a pretty concerning reaction.

"N-nothing I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting you to turn the lights off. Let's just watch the movie," The beautiful brunette deflected.

"I'm a psychology major, Beca. I know that you're lying to me and that you're scared. Just talk to me," Chloe pleaded, pulling the younger girl's body closer to her in an attempt to get her to relax.

"It's nothing okay? Drop it," Beca said forcefully. Her muscles were even tenser and she tried to sit up, only to have Chloe's arms around her tighten. Feeling Beca try to run away, Chloe tightened her grip on her girlfriend in attempt to help.

"S-stop. Please let go of m-me!" Beca pleaded. Her eyes were haunted and far away, like she was reliving a memory and she was shaking so hard that Chloe thought her girlfriend might break in her arms.

Chloe immediately released her grip on Beca, shocked.

"What the Hell is going on?" Chloe asked frantically. She turned around and flipped the light switch on, hoping to ease some of Beca's sudden panic.

By this time tears were pooling in the younger girl's eyes. She knew that she had to get away before Chloe had a chance to see her cry, a chance to see her vulnerable. Even when she was younger, Beca never allowed anyone to see her cry.

"I-I have to go," Beca stuttered, cursing herself. She never stuttered, she wasn't that girl anymore and she sure as hell wasn't about to unearth memories that it had taken her years to push away.

Beca turned on her heel to walk away before she let the tears fall but her girlfriend grabbed her wrist, not allowing her to leave.

"Don't run away from me, just talk to me!" The older girl pleaded, not releasing her grip on her younger girlfriend.

"There is nothing to talk about. I just w-want to go home," Beca lied, cursing herself for allowing her voice to break.

Chloe could tell by Beca's body language that her girlfriend was terrified and on the verge of a breakdown that she obviously didn't want anybody to be around to see.

"Beca I want to help you through this. Just talk to me," Chloe begged again.

Without waiting for a response, she pulled her beautiful girlfriend into the safety of her arms and pulled them into her bedroom and lied them down. She could feel Beca shaking, her body wracking with silent sobs that Beca was trying to desperately to keep from escaping her lips and alerting her girlfriend that she was about to cry her eyes out.

"C-Chloe?" Beca addressed her hesitantly.

Chloe looked down, trying to meet Beca's eyes but the shorter girl wouldn't even look at her.

"P-please don't leave. I-I know you want me to open up to you and I'm trying. I-" Beca was cut off by a violent sob wracking her body.

"Shhh, Beca it's okay. I'm not going anywhere," Chloe soothed. She could feel her heart breaking for her girlfriend. What could have happened in her past to cause her this much pain? And when Beca begged her not to leave her Chloe felt her heart shatter in her chest. Beca was used to people leaving her alone when she cried her eyes out or showed her emotions. Sighing, Chloe knew she had a lot of work to do and promised herself that she would never break the broken girl's trust.

Slowly the sobs died down and silence filled the room.

"Are you ready to talk about it?" Chloe asked softly. She subconsciously tightened her grip on Beca's waist, as if she was protecting her girlfriend from the thoughts inside her own head.

Beca buried herself deeper into her girlfriend's side. Chloe smiled at Beca's cuteness but didn't allow her girlfriend to change the subject or distract them.

Beca sighed deeply when she realized her efforts to sidetrack Chloe were to no avail.

"When I was younger my parents had a really, really nasty divorce, you know that. I guess that's why I never really believed in letting anyone get to close, they always leave," Beca said distantly.

Chloe waited for Beca to continue but she never did.

"Go on," Chloe urged.

Beca tensed in her arms and sat up, looking everywhere but Chloe's ice blue orbs.

"I've said all I wanted to say," Beca responded robotically.

"Jesus Beca, that was nothing! I tell you everything about me and I feel like I don't know a damn thing about you!" Chloe screamed in frustration. She could see that her yelling was scaring Beca was she was so angry that it didn't register in her brain.

"I tell you lots of things! You know that I'm trying!" Beca yelled back. She could feel herself breaking. The absolute last thing she wanted was to start a fight with her girlfriend. 

"You need to start letting me in! I feel like you've always kept me at arm's length and that's not good enough for me anymore! I thought you would open up to me on your own but obviously that isn't going to happen. If we expect this relationship to go anywhere than you need to start trusting me," Chloe yelled, standing up off the bed and pacing the bedroom angrily.

"Can you please calm the fuck down? I'm trying Chlo! Don't you get that this isn't easy for me?! Every time I trust someone I get burned! And I don't want to do it anymore." Beca screamed back, her breathing was heavy and she was shaking and Chloe had no idea how hard it was for her to let people close to her. She ended up getting fucked over in the end, like always.

"Well until you're ready to actually let me get to know the real you, I think you should go," Chloe spat angrily. As soon as the words left her mouth, Chloe instantly regretted them. The look of hurt and shock on Beca's face would be forever burned into the normally peppy girl's memory.

Suddenly, Beca felt like all the air and anger had been drained from the room and all that was left was tension.

"Beca, wait I didn't mean that!" Chloe called. She chased after her upset girlfriend, who was already at the door.

"No I think you did," Beca shot back icily.

"Beca please don't leave! You're upset and I don't want you walking out alone. It's late. Can we please just talk this through?" Chloe practically begged the other girl who was shaking from fear or anger, Chloe wasn't really sure at this point.

The younger girl slammed the door and ran all the way back to her dorm room, praying that Kimmy –her roommate- was gone because she really couldn't deal with her right now. All Beca wanted to do was go home and cry. The love of her life, the girl whom she thought would always be there was already getting sick of her. 'Stupid' Beca thought to herself. 'As if she could actually love someone like you.' Beca cried herself to sleep that night, something she hadn't allowed herself to do in years. Tonight, her emotions were so overpowering that for once she just couldn't push them away.

Chloe sat with her back to her door and let the tears stream down her cheeks. How did everything go so wrong? She hadn't meant to lose her temper like that, especially not with Beca, who she knew was extremely emotionally fragile. How did she go from comforting the girl she loved after watching her have a heart wrenching break down to screaming in each other's faces? She was just so damn frustrated! They had been together for almost half a year and Beca still didn't trust her enough to open up about her past? Chloe understood that everyone had secrets but how could they move forward with their relationship if Beca didn't trust her to help her through some of the things in her past that were obviously still haunting her to this very day.

Getting Beca to open up to her would be twice as hard now. Chloe hoped that her major of choice would come in handy, not only could she read her girlfriend like a book but she was getting an education on how to help her girlfriend deal with all of her pent of feelings from her dark past.

Both girls cried themselves to sleep that night, wishing they'd been in each other's arms but both of them were too stubborn to call the other one and confess how they were feeling.

Hopefully, tomorrow would be a better day but one thing was for sure, a capella practice was going to awkward.


	2. Chapter 2

Aubrey came back to the apartment that she shared with her best friend Chloe expecting to find her best friend and Beca curled up on the couch or in Chloe's room. She definitely didn't expect to see her redheaded friend lying on the sofa sobbing into a throw pillow. Aubrey immediately dropped her bags and raced over to her roommate.

"Chloe what happened? What's wrong?" The blonde girl questioned frantically. She wrapped her arms around the smaller girl's shoulders and pulled her into a sitting position.

"B-Beca I-we h-had a fight," Chloe managed to choke out between sobs.

Aubrey felt her heart sink. If Chloe was in this bad of shape she could only imagine how Beca was holding up on her own. Aubrey wasn't sure exactly when she started to care for the younger girl, probably a few months after she got together with her best friend. She sort of realized that maybe Beca wasn't the devil trying to steal captain on the Bellas from her.

"It's okay. You guys love each other, it'll work out," Aubrey comforted. She rubbed soothing patterns on the back of best friend until her loud cries muffled and eventually stopped altogether.

"I-I need to see her! She's probably alone in her room crying her eyes out. I can't leave her like that Aubrey," Chloe cried, her voice still thick with tears. She tried to stand up only to be pulled back down by her roommate.

"Sweetie you can't go over there like this. You're a mess and obviously upset, you'll just make it worse. You can go see Beca in the morning. Besides, it's really late and we both need some sleep, "Aubrey reasoned gently.

"What am I supposed to do? Leave my girlfriend crying alone in her dorm room?" Chloe asked sarcastically.

Aubrey sighed, "Look you going over there right now is going to do a lot more harm than good. She's upset, you're upset. I know you want to make up with her but it can wait until tomorrow. Besides, you know she'll just push you away and you're in no state to listen. Give her time to cool off."

Chloe pouted, she knew that Aubrey was right (the blonde girl usually was) but the idea of Beca so distressed made her heart shatter. She wanted nothing more than to pull the younger girl into her arms and take all the hurt away. It killed her that she was responsible for Beca's emotional state; she knew that the younger girl had a lot of hurt in her past and she really didn't want to contribute to the number of times she'd been hurt. The beautiful redhead didn't mean to lose her temper and honestly, she hardly ever did, but Beca just kept shutting her out and she couldn't take it anymore. She wasn't about to give up on her girlfriend; no, she loved her far too much to do that but something had to change. All that could wait though, all she wanted to do now was make Beca happy again.

Meanwhile back in her own dorm, Beca wasn't fairing much better. Kimmy Jin was out with her Korean club so at least she had the room to herself while she wallowed in her misery. After what seemed like hours, Beca just couldn't cry anymore. She really, really didn't want to lose Chloe. Chloe was the best thing that had ever happened to her, she was like the light that she finally found after an entire life of darkness. Just seeing Chloe lit up her whole day.

A part of her wanted to go back and make sure that Chloe was okay but she was confident that Aubrey was taking care of her. Jealousy boiled up inside of Beca when the thought occurred to her that she didn't have an Aubrey. Someone who could comfort her and confide in that wasn't her girlfriend. Shaking away those thoughts Beca crawled into bed, willing herself to fall asleep without any painful thoughts or nightmares to ruin her already fucked up night.

Chloe woke up the next morning with less than 10 seconds of peace before the events of the previous night came crashing back down on her. Sighing, she checked the clock and saw that she had 30 minutes until a ccapella practice. She quickly showered and dressed in workout clothes, knowing today was the day for her to teach the freshman the new choreography she and Aubrey had come up with. She grabbed her keys and locked her dorm room, not surprised that Aubrey had already left for practice.

Chloe was unable to hide her disappointment when she opened to the auditorium doors to see that all the Bellas were there, expect for Beca. Aubrey looked at Chloe and smiled, happy that at least she had shown up.

"Where's Beca?" Stacie questioned. She - like most of the Bellas - had expected her to arrive with the ginger. 

"She's um…I don't know," Chloe murmured, her usually bright blue eyes dim.

An awkward silence fell in the group.

"Okay so we're going to teach you guys some new choreography today. I want half of you over here with me and the other half over there with Chloe okay?" Audrey commanded in her no-nonsense voice.

About 10 minutes into the practice Beca came in. Her hair was still damp from her shower and her clothes were disheveled. She'd thrown her hair up in a messy bun and her eyes looked glassy. Chloe's heart broke as the girl got closer and she could see the deep dark circles, indicating that her girlfriend hadn't slept a wink the previous night. As she got closer to the stage, she wrapped her arms around herself protectively. Aubrey didn't have the heart to scold the heartbroken girl for being late, something she would normally do without hesitation.

"Beca why don't you go in Chloe's group? We're teaching you guys the new choreography today," Aubrey suggested gently. She knew that putting her in Chloe's group might be a recipe for disaster but she had to do something to try and get the two of them talking.

Beca just nodded and slowly joined the other group, not speaking to anyone and avoiding eye contact with Chloe. Chloe watched as Beca walked to the back of the small group and imitate the dancing she saw fat Amy doing.

"Bab- Beca, can you come up here?" Chloe called her, kicking herself for letting the causal nickname 'babe' slip out at such a horrible time.

Beca looked up like a deer in headlights. Still not looking at Chloe, she slowly strolled to the front of the stage.

Beca continued to dance to the music along with her friends but she wasn't doing it right and she was well aware. She attempted to learn by watching the others and didn't dare ask Chloe to help her. Chloe sighed, ignoring the part of her that wanted to send Beca to Aubrey's group; she pulled her girlfriend aside and stood behind her. She wrapped her hands around Beca's wrists and showed her the movements, as if she were a puppet. Chloe felt her heartbreak when she felt Beca tense and then tremble ever so slightly, as if she were about to cry. This situation wasn't unusual, she and Aubrey always taught the girls choreography like this and usually it was the most fun with Beca because Aubrey was always telling her to keep it 'PG' but they never did.

"Stop Chloe. I don't need your help, I can do it myself," Beca commanded, trying to pull away.

"Obviously you do or you would be doing the choreography correctly," Chloe said softly, keeping her grip on Beca firm and not allowing the other girl to pull away.

"God why are you on me about this? You know I'll pick it up! I just missed the first part of class!" Beca snapped, pulling away from the older girl completely.

By this time everyone was no longer dancing but watching the fight between the -what they assumed as still together – couple. Most of the girls were just openly staring but Aubrey just looked over at them sadly. Two people that she cared for a great deal were fighting and she hated it, this must have been how Chloe felt when she and Beca used to argue so much.

"Okay that's enough. Beca, you and Chloe need to go work this out and don't come back and disrupt my practices until you can be civil towards one another. Your personal problems don not concern me or the rest of the Bellas," Aubrey barked, leaving no room for argument.

Beca rolled her eyes and jumped off the stage, mumbling to herself about how she shouldn't even have come and should have expected Aubrey to try and glue their relationship back together.

Shooting her group an apologetic look, Chloe grabbed her bag and raced after Beca, who was speed walking as fast as she could to get the hell out of the auditorium and presumably, away from her.

"Beca wait up! You know we have to talk about this," Chloe said, catching up with the brunette.

"I don't want to," Beca mumbled, walking quicker.

Chloe sighed; she expected this kind of reaction from Beca. She reached out and grabbed the younger girl's hand, holding her firmly in place.

"Frankly I don't care. I am not about to let the best 5 months of my life end right now because my girlfriend 'doesn't want to talk about it'," Chloe said forcefully.

As careful as Chloe knew that she needed to be with Beca, she also knew that sometimes the stubborn girl just needed a push, not a pushover that would just agree with whatever she wanted.

"Okay so talk," Beca growled, frustrated. She was no longer fighting to get out of Chloe's strong grip.

"I'm sorry that I blew up at you last night. I'm sorry that we fought but I meant what I said, babe I need you to start opening up to me about how you feel and your past and why certain things make you sad and uncomfortable. How am I supposed to avoid them if you don't even tell me? Look I really, really care about you and I don't want to lose you ever but I need you to trust me with all of you, the emotional parts too," Chloe explained, tears welling up in her eyes.

Beca felt her heart break. She hadn't meant to make Chloe cry.

"I'm sorry too Chloe. I don't mean to be so closed off it's just…hard for me okay? I need you to be a little more patient but I swear I'm getting there. I want to be able to open up and tell you every little thing about me it's just…every time I let someone in, I get burned. They use it against me or they leave and I-I just can't deal with it anymore. It's too hard," Beca paused. "But for you I'll try."

Tears were now welling up in both girls' eyes and streaming down their cheeks.

Chloe pulled Beca in close for a tight embrace, holding the girl as if she might break if she didn't. Beca sighed in relief. She breathed in the tropical with a hint of vanilla scent that was her beautiful girlfriend. Looking up into her breathtaking blue eyes for this first time since their fight, Beca felt like she could breathe again.

"I can't lose you Chloe. I can't," Beca choked out, she could feel the hot tears poor down her cheeks and her first instinct is to run away so no one can see her cry. She wasn't quite sure why she was crying, maybe the thought of losing Chloe makes her that sad or maybe they were happy tears because she and Chloe made up but she just hated crying in front of people. She reached her hand up to wipe them away but Chloe beat her to it, lovingly stroking her cheek.

"Lucky for you, you won't ever have to," Chloe promised, tightening her arms around Beca.

Everything wasn't perfect. They still had to go back to Chloe's place and work things out. They had a lot of issues to deal with but in that moment everything was okay. They were back in each other's arms and really that's the only place they ever wanted to be.


	3. Chapter 3

Beca was happy. She and Chloe were getting along again, like their spat had never happened. Things were still a little bit awkward since Beca was nervous that Chloe might get tired of her and break up with her or get sick of being patient. Chloe was feeling the awkward because she could tell Beca was scared that she would leave her and she really wanted Beca to start opening up to her in a way that didn't make the younger girl feel trapped. The couple was currently sitting on Beca's couch/bed in her tiny freshman dorm room. Beca was lying down with her feet in Chloe's lap and her math book was clutched entirely too hard, turning the tips of her fingers white in an attempt to concentrate.

Chloe was supposed to be reading a book for abnormal psychology but instead found herself just watching her girlfriend get more and more frustrated by the math equations. Chloe found her irritated facial expressions beyond cute.

"Ugh! Why do I even need this fucking math?" Beca yelled out in frustration.

Chloe laughed quietly.

"Here babe, let me help you. I've already taken that class and trust me, I know from personal experience that Mr. Minestin can't teach math to save his life," Chloe joked. She switched their positions and pulled Beca up so that she was sitting and wrapped an arm casually around her girlfriend's shoulders.

Beca turned a dark shade of red.

"No, that's okay, I-I'm good Chlo," Beca declined quickly, sitting up straighter, her girlfriend's arm feeling constricting.

Chloe frowned,"I don't get it Becs, why can't you just let me help you?"

"It's just math Chloe, I can figure it out," Beca defended.

Chloe was already shaking her head.

"No it's not just math, it's math, dancing, singing, and everything I've ever offered to help you with. So try again," Chloe retorted.

Beca took a deep breath. She could tell Chloe one little tiny secret about herself right? So what if she'd never told anyone before, it's just Chloe right? Besides, she was supposed to be opening up to her gradually and this seemed like as good as place as any to start.

"Chlo…it's embarrassing okay?" Beca answered honestly, refusing to meet Chloe's beautiful blue orbs.

"Beca needing help is nothing to be embarrassed about okay?" Chloe promised reassuringly, leaning in close to the beautiful brunette.

"When I was a little girl…my parents told me that needing help was a sign of weakness," Beca mumbled, looking down at the couch, memorizing the shade of grey as if it were the most interesting thing on the planet.

Chloe was over the moon. Not because Beca's idiot parents had fed her those horrible lies, no child should be told that needing help was a sign of weakness because it definitely is not but she was beyond thrilled because Beca had finally let her in just a little bit. Obviously there was some bad blood between Beca and her parents and it didn't take a genius to figure out that Beca had a problem with authority (which is probably why she and Aubrey clashed so much) At least Chloe had a place to start with her girlfriend.

"Beca…look at me," Chloe demanded gently, forcing Beca to look up and meet her gaze by leading her chin. "Needing help with anything is not a sign of weakness, especially not math. I get that you and your parents aren't close but you can't let anything they say get to you okay?"

Beca scoffed, "That's the understatement of the century."

"Then tell me about your parents," Chloe requested gently. She reached over to her girlfriend and took the math textbook off of her lap and pulled her into her side, not missing how the blue eyed brunette tensed at the mere mention of her parents. Chloe's brow creased with worry. What could have happened to make Beca hate her parents that much? Was the divorce really that nasty?

"Nothing to tell," Beca said too quickly, standing up and stretching.

"Come on Becs, there must be something you can tell me about your parents," Chloe pushed, standing next to her girlfriend.

"They're pretty boring Chlo," Beca replied defensively, unconsciously crossing her arms over her chest protectively.

"Well how about I be the judge of that?" Chloe asked, wiggling her eyebrows mischievously.

Beca looked up to meet Chloe's eyes with a questioning look.

"What do you mean?" Beca asked slowly.

"I mean I want to meet your parents. Y'know officially," Chloe stated, a huge smile on her face. If she could get Beca to reconnect with her parents then maybe the younger girl would be more open about herself, not to mention all the information about her girlfriend as a child she could get from the girl's parents.

"No. Absolutely not. Never in a million years," Beca denied easily. Just the mere thought of letting her horrible parents anywhere near the most precious thing in her life was just completely out of the question.

"Why not? Are you ashamed of me?" Chloe asked sadly, her big blue eyes welling up with tears.

"No! Chloe that's not in at all I swear," Beca swore. She reached over and captured one of her girlfriend's soft hands in her own.

"Then what is it?" Chloe demanded, she pulled her hand out of Beca's grasp. As much as she wanted to make things easier for the younger girl, she really needed an explanation.

Beca took a deep breath,

"Chlo I don't speak to my parents anymore. Ever," Beca explained slowly. She fought to keep her voice even; she was about to reveal a secret that she'd never told anyone before.

"Beca…I know you said it was hard to talk about but can you please tell me what happened between you and your parents?" Chloe requested carefully.

"I don't want to talk about this," Beca denied, she freed herself from Chloe's embrace and stood up. She put distance between herself and the girl she loved and began to pace.

"Which is exactly why we have to! Becs it's not normal to react that way whenever I bring up your parents. Obviously something really upsetting happened to you when you were young and I want to help you but I can't if you won't let me," Chloe argued.

"I never asked for your help," Beca snapped back.

"You didn't have to! I'm here trying to help you because I care about you! That's reason enough," Chloe shouted.

She didn't miss the way Beca flinched and shut her eyes tightly when Chloe raised her voice. Feeling her resolve crumble, she cursed herself before walking around the room and wrapping her arms around Beca comfortingly.

"Look I'm sorry Becs, I didn't mean to yell at you. But we need to talk about this and we will," Chloe promised, she kissed her short girlfriend's forehead and grabbed her book and left.

Beca wanted to chase after the older girl, beg her not to leave and tell her everything about her horrible past. She wanted to open up to Chloe and let her take all the hurt away but she was too damn scared. What if Chloe thought she was too broken and left? What the hell could she do then? Chloe was her everything and that scared her.

Tomorrow, Beca vowed she would skip all her classes, go over to Chloe's apartment, pray Aubrey wasn't there and tell her girlfriend everything.


	4. Chapter 4

From the time she woke up, Beca had a feeling that today would be a bad day.

She was supposed to open up to Chloe today, something she felt queasy about already but she was more concerned that her girlfriend would break up with her once she realized how damaged she was.

Sure enough, Beca was right, today was a very bad day. And it all stared at a capella practice...

"Jesus Christ Beca, that's why you wouldn't go out with me? Her?" Jesse yelled, pacing around the auditorium.

Jesse and Beca were currently standing in the middle of the audience of the auditorium audience while the rest of the Bellas were on stage pretending to continue rehearsal when Beca knew that they were all watching the development between her and Jesse.

"Jesse I didn't want to hurt you and I-" Beca tried to explain. She could feel herself shaking and her palms were sweating. She knew that Chloe was all the way across the stage and was slightly hurt that her girlfriend didn't come over and intervene when she was obviously struggling.

Jesse laughed.

It was completely unlike any other laugh Beca had ever heard from him, this laugh was dark and bitter.

"It's a little too late for that now don't you think?" He questioned her sarcastically.

Beca didn't know what to do; she genuinely liked having Jesse in her life and wanted to salvage the friendship if possible. He was her very first friend at Barden and he was a really great guy; he was charming and funny and musical and he'd be perfect for her…if she hadn't already been in love with Chloe.

In hindsight, Beca realized that not telling Jesse about her relationship with Chloe had been a huge mistake. Maybe if he hadn't walked into their practice to drop off the sheet music the trebles had borrowed for a warm up and seen them kissing, he would have taken it better.

"Jesse please…" Beca begged. She wasn't entirely sure what she was begging him to do, forgive her? For what? She had every right to fall in love. But she also didn't want to hurt him the way that she obviously already had.

Jesse just scoffed.

"I just never thought you'd do something like this to me," Jesse griped, looking down at the floor, anger still very visible in his eyes.

His arms were shaking at his sides and he looked over to the stage with bitterness in his eyes. He loved Beca. Granted, he'd only known her 6 months, but he could feel the connection and now he couldn't have her because of some girl. He had been there for Beca, he'd been patient when Beca refused to open up to him and he was sure that he was in love with the beautiful alternative brunette.

Chloe whimpered, making eye contact with Aubrey.

"I need go over there Aubrey, he's being an ass," Chloe explained, she really wanted to go over to where her girlfriend and girlfriend's jerk friend were but she didn't want to seem overbearing. Besides, Jesse was Beca's friend and she could handle him.

"No Chlo, then you'll be her babysitter that thinks she can't handle herself." Aubrey denied, wrapping her hand around Chloe's wrist, as if trying to keep her in place.

"You know what? Screw you Jesse. I don't need your permission to fall in love with someone and I sure as hell didn't ask for your opinion on my relationship," Beca responded angrily. She was getting mad now; Jesse came into her Bellas rehearsal and made a scene in front of all her friends and her girlfriend who were all gawking like they were watching some hit reality show instead of just telling Jesse to get lost.

"God how can you even call it a relationship? She's a girl! This is just wrong Bec," Jesse argued, still not understanding just how angry he was making Beca.

"Okay Jesse that's enough, I think you need to go," Aubrey finally stepped in. Her arms were crossed and her signature bitch face was on. Who the hell was Jesse to come into her Bellas rehearsal and mess with her two of her best singers? She honestly should have intervened a long time ago but she didn't want to come off as controlling.

"Yeah so you guys can go back to lesbian club," Jesse remarked sarcastically, taking a shot at Beca.

"Screw you Jesse. Even if I wasn't into girls, I still wouldn't date a pathetic jackass like you," Beca snarked. Normally, she didn't really think he was a bad guy but right now he was just being such an asshole and Beca wanted to hurt him.

The anger in Jesse just bubbled up and took over his whole body. He turned around has fast as he could and slapped Beca right across the face. The loud smack sound echoed off the walls of the auditorium and all the whispering Bellas were dead silent. Everyone was in shock.

Jesse had just _slapped_ Beca.

Chloe was off the stage and at Beca's side in an instant.

"You son of a bitch! Get the hell out of this auditorium before I beat the shit out of you." Chloe yelled at him, her voice dangerous and cutting. She wrapped a protective arm around her shaking girlfriend's waist.

It was like Jesse didn't hear her.

"OH-oh my God Beca…I'm s so sorry. I d-didn't mean to do that." Jesse stammered. He eyes kept darting his hand to the shocked girl's red face.

"Did you not hear Chloe? Get the hell out!" Aubrey shouted. She pushed the boy away, knocking him out of his daze.  Shaking his head, he took off running.

The rest of the Bellas came rushing over to Beca bombarding her with questions.

"Are you okay?" Fat Amy asked frantically.

"Does it hurt? Do you need some ice?" Stacie asked quickly, panic was obvious in her voice.

Lily whispered something that no one heard.

"Okay enough! Thank you for being concerned about Beca but you all need to back off. Rehearsal is over for today, get your shit and go home," Aubrey barked at the Bellas, her business, no bullshit voice was firmly in place.

Chloe was trying to get any kind reaction of out Beca. The younger girl was still frozen. Chloe could feel the shorter girl shaking and her face was still pressed up against her cheek right where Jesse had slapped her. Chloe had tried to guide her down into one of the seats but Beca refused to move anywhere; she just continued to stand there and stare off into the distance. Unable to find anything that would get her to respond, Chloe desperately pulled Beca's face to her own and kissed the younger girl gently keeping her arms gently around her girlfriend's waist securely. Almost immediately Beca snapped out of her trance and flinched away. Her eyes were wide with fear and panic. She rapidly became aware of her surroundings and how she, Chloe and Aubrey were the only people left in the auditorium.

Aubrey was leaning against the stage, waiting for an appropriate time to join the couple.

"G-get away from me." Beca stammered out. Tears were brimming in a pool of blue eyes that Chloe just got a glimpse of before Beca turned away. Before Chloe could get a grip on the younger girl she scampered away, running as fast as she could out of the auditorium doors. Chloe turned to run after her but she could get anywhere she felt Aubrey holding her back.

"Aubrey don't you dare tell me that she needs space." Chloe warned.

"I wasn't going to. Chlo, I'm just going to be honest with you. I think someone abused Beca when she was younger. That was not a normal reaction to just getting slapped. I mean I'm sure it hurt and she was shocked but I could see it in her eyes, she was a million miles away from here. Like she was trapped in a memory." Aubrey explained.

"That's all the more reason for her to need me. I have to go find her." Chloe argued, getting frustrated.

"Just…let me talk to her okay?" Aubrey pleaded.

Chloe let out a sigh; she ran a hand through her long red hair.

"Look I know she's fragile and we don't have the best track record but I swear Chlo I just want to help her," Aubrey swore.

"Okay okay, just call me as soon as you find her, she needs me," Chloe chocked out, tears forming in her eyes.

"Hey, hey it's okay Chlo don't cry," Aubrey comforted, pulling her best friend into a tight hug.

"It's just t-today she was supposed to open up and talk about all the things she was scared of and I was supposed to help her through all the skeletons in her closet and protect her and instead I just stood there let her get slapped," Chloe cried, tightening her hold on the blonde.

"Chloe you couldn't have known he was going to do that. Don't you dare blame yourself. I'll meet you back at our place with Beca in an hour. Go take a shower and relax, Beca is going to need you calm if you're going to be there for her," Aubrey instructed softly.

Giving her ginger friend one last squeeze, she set off to find the alternative young girl.

* * *

 

Aubrey sat in the younger girl's dorm room for close to an hour before the blue-eyed brunette stumbled in. Her eyes were red and tear marks were dried on her face. The girl looked broken, her posture was slumped over and her hands were still shaking. She hadn't even noticed Aubrey's presence yet. Finally Beca looked up to throw herself on her bed and nearly jumped out of her skin upon noticing the older girl sitting there.

"Jesus Christ Aubrey! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Beca yelled. She cleared her throat awkwardly and tried to dry off the tears marks on her cheeks. Aubrey smiled faintly. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to startle you. Chloe is just really worried about you."

Beca said nothing. She just walked over to bed and sat down next to Aubrey. After taking a few calming breaths the freshman girl spoke up.

"So what are you doing here?" she asked, not rudely, just curiously.

"When I was 14, my parents got into an argument. My mom left to stay that night with a friend and left me alone with my father. Ironically, the fight was over my dad's drinking habit. And when she left, he downed an entire bottle of scotch by himself. He was so drunk that he came up into my room and started to scream at me. I told him he was drunk and to sleep it off, being the smartass teenager I was, and he hit me. I was so shocked that I didn't or couldn't do anything. The next morning he came upstairs and begged me not to tell my mother and that he was terribly sorry and it would never happen again," Aubrey said evenly. She even surprised herself by how comfortable she felt telling Beca this.

When Beca said nothing she continued. "Of course it did happen again, a few more times but I was still too terrified of my father to do anything to stop him. Then, one day when I was 18, just before I left for college I told my mom. I figured I was leaving in just a short summer and there really wasn't a lot my father could do to me once I was gone. She was appalled and divorced him as soon as she could. Their marriage was on the ropes anyways and my secret just set my mom over the edge. I went to see a counselor to deal with the aftermath and I haven't spoken to my father since." Aubrey finished.

Beca was still frozen in shock but she recovered quickly when she realized the older girl was done.

"Why would you tell me that?" Beca asked, her voice wavered and shook, as if she was afraid of the answer she'd get.

Aubrey let out a small sigh. "Other than my therapist, my mom and Chloe, you're the only other person that knows. I think that's why I have such a need for control, because I didn't have any when I was younger," Aubrey said softly.

The older girl looked over to meet the younger girl's eyes. "I told you because I can see a lot of myself in you. You were terrified when Jesse slapped you; I saw it on your face. You were living in the past. I've been talking to Chloe; don't be angry with her, she was just trying to help but I know physical contact is hard for you and trusting people, I was like that too." Aubrey informed her carefully.

She knew that Chloe breaking her trust and telling her might upset Beca.

"She told you that?" Beca asked, anger filling up her eyes. She couldn't really be mad at Chloe for seeking her best friend's advice but she couldn't help but feel a little betrayed. "She was trying to help you." Aubrey assured her.

"Look no offense but if I wanted you to know that I would have told you myself," Beca said angrily.

"Listen, Beca, you don't owe me an explanation or any answers but you do owe some to Chloe. She really cares about you and she wants to help you and I think you need to let her," Aubrey said honestly.

"H-how long was it? Before you could trust again?" Beca asked quietly. She began to twirl her long brunette hair around her finger and bite her lip, both nervous habits of hers.

"It took a long time." Aubrey admitted. "But it gets easier. You already have Chloe and she won't let you push her away. Neither will I, when you're ready to talk about it with me."

"Thank you Aubrey, I know we don't always get along but you're actually kind of cool and I'm glad we're friends." Beca confessed.

Aubrey smiled, "Me too. Now I promised Chloe I'd bring you back to our apartment to talk so we better get going."

The older girl got up off of Beca's bed and grabbed her keys to her own dorm. The younger girl followed her out and they walked the short distance between housing buildings. The walk was silent but Beca felt a million times better now that she knew that she wasn't alone. When they reached Aubrey and Chloe's apartment, Beca stopped walking.

"Hey Aubrey?" Beca asked suddenly. "After I tell Chloe about…me can I- can we?" Beca trailed off, not entirely sure how to phrase it.

"You can always come to talk to me about anything. Like you said, we're friends now and I know what you're going through. Maybe when you feel up to it, you can come talk to me about you. Just remember you aren't alone, Chloe and I will help you through this," Aubrey promised.

She gave the younger girl an awkward one-armed hug before opening the door to her shared living room. The opened door revealed Chloe, who was standing up and pacing. She was worried sick about Beca. The beautiful senior had cleaned their entire apartment and showered while waiting for her two best friends to arrive. She saw the door open to reveal her best friend and her girlfriend. She raced over to them and wrapped the younger girl up in her arms.

"Thank God, I was worried sick," The ginger mumbled into her girlfriend's shoulder.

Aubrey cleared her throat and Chloe pulled away and noticed just how tense Beca was. "I'm going to go to my room; you two talk and come get me if you need me." Aubrey said slowly, giving Beca a pointed look.

The younger girl nodded at the blonde and allowed herself to be pulled into Chloe's room.

Chloe closed the door to give them privacy and sat down on her bed, pulling her girlfriend with her.

"I don't know where to start." Beca answered honestly.

"How about the beginning?" Chloe suggested with a small smirk.

Beca laughed lightly, appreciating her girlfriend's attempt to ease the tension. And she began her story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I guess it's actually next chapter that you find out what exactly happened to Beca but at least now you have a really good idea of it. I really like Aubrey/Beca friendship and I can totally see Aubrey being abused as a child so I just thought it worked. I don't hate Jesse but he'd such an appropriate villain. I personally like Jesse a lot; he just seems like the best friend type to me. Anyways, thank you so much for reading and I love constructive criticism!!


	5. Chapter 5

"When I was 8, my parents got a divorce. It was bitter and horrible and the worst possible way to get a divorce, they hated each other," Beca began; she was trying desperately to keep the emotion out of her voice. Honestly after the whole Jesse thing and then her talk with Aubrey she was emotionally exhausted and all she wanted to do was sleep but she owed it to Chloe to at least try.

"Honestly I wasn't as disappointed by the divorce as I thought I would be. All my parents did was scream at each other and, in time, me. So I figured if they got a divorce all the yelling would stop and maybe we could try to be happy in some way," Beca let out a shaky breath and Chloe immediately wrapped her arms around the smaller girl's middle.

"Are you okay babe?" Chloe asked quietly. She pressed a light kiss to Beca's forehead and ran her free hand through the brunette's silky locks.

Beca just nodded, not trusting her voice. She collected herself and began again.

"I think the part that hurt the most was that neither of my parents wanted me in the divorce. Instead of fighting for custody, they fought over who would be b-burdened by 't-the k-kid,' Beca let out an involuntary whimper to keep the tears at bay.

"I-I'm sorr-"

"Don't even finish that apology. Don't ever apologize for that, I understand that this is hard for you. Your parents are idiots and they completely missed out on something amazing," Chloe soothed gently, tightening her grip on the younger girl.

"Thanks," Beca sniffled quietly.

"They argued for close to a month while I lived with my Dad. My mom had already moved out and was living in an apartment. Finally the judge suggested adoption as being one of their options. Getting rid of me seemed to be the only thing my parents could agree on," Beca laughed bitterly.

Chloe was frozen. She didn't have anything to say that could make this better so she just kept her mouth shut, hoping her presence alone would make her girlfriend feel a little better.

"I was stuck in the foster home for close to year. I lived with some little girl that didn't talk, all she did was cry. About a year after I got there, a couple agreed to long-term foster me. They seemed nice enough at first glance, granted I was 9 and I wasn't great at reading people. I learned they had two kids that had gone off to college and agreed to foster me until I turned 18. I think I was the second kid they'd fostered," Beca explained.

Absently, the younger girl reached down and linked her fingers with her girlfriend. Chloe had been the first person to make her feel wanted. Even though she was unearthing memories she'd sworn up and down she'd never discuss with anyone ever, Chloe made opening up seem…easier. She hadn't run away or judged her yet. The worst was still to come, but Chloe's soft yet strong arms wrapped protectively around her made her feel safe.

"They took me home with them and I realized they were nothing like I thought they were. They were…beyond horrible. The Man, Phil would get drunk all the time and scream at his wife, Jen who in turn would throw things at him. They were ten times worse than my parents. They pretended I didn't exist until my social worker came to check up on me. The only time they ever paid me any attention was when Phil was so angry that he needed to hit something, which was usually the wall and then m-me or when Jen wanted someone to scream at and blame for her problems .After a while my social worker stopped coming. I was ignored completely until I was around 15 I think. Phil and Jen split up and sent me back to foster care, said I was too much to handle for a couple going through a divorce," Beca muttered.

"I was sent to live with a man named Peter when I was 16. Living with him was the w-worst h-hell I've ever lived t-through," Beca stuttered out. She was chocking back a sob and Chloe felt her petite body tense and start shaking in her arms.

"Shhh, calm down it's okay. You can stop if you want to," Chloe promised. She would have done anything at this point to take away all the hurt and pain in Beca's past. No wonder she didn't open up to people, they always ended up breaking her trust and faith in humanity. 

"N-no if I don't say it now I'm not sure I'll ever be able to," Beca answered. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and sat up, pulling slightly out of her girlfriend's arms.

"He was an ugly man really, bald, missing teeth and the ones he did have were yellow from all the cigarettes he smoked. About a month into living with him, he came home drunk one night. H-he did that a lot but that night was different. H-he brought back some friends of his. I was sleeping…or at least trying to. T-they came up to my bedroom and t-they…" Beca couldn't finish. She collapsed into sobs, tears pouring out of her eyes.

Chloe's heart broke into a million pieces at the sight of her strong girlfriend crying before her. Beca hadn't needed to finish that sentence for Chloe to know what had happened to her. She thought what happened to Aubrey was bad, this was even worse. Not sure if her touch would be welcomed or not, she sat back on the bed and waited, whispering soothing words to the younger girl.

It all made sense though, why Beca reacted the way that she did. Obviously Jesse brought back flashbacks of her first foster family, her own parents didn't want her, hence the abandonment issues and she was sensitive to touching because the only kind she'd ever known hurt her. Chloe felt like crying her eyes out, she'd grown up with hugs and love and Beca probably hadn't had a hug her entire childhood.

After about 10 minutes the crying didn't stop and Chloe was getting frantic. She yelled for Aubrey and in seconds the older girl was in Chloe's room and on the bed next to Beca.

She shot Chloe a confused glance but the ginger just shook her head, tears forming in her eyes.

"Shhh, Beca it's okay. You're in our apartment. It's just Chloe and Aubrey okay? Don't be scared, no one here if going to hurt you," Aubrey soothed. Knowing it would at least break Beca out of her trance; she reached out and lightly touched the young brunette on the shoulder, getting her attention.

Immediately the young brunette flinched away but she opened her eyes. Her breathing was still labored but it was less frantic. Aubrey and Chloe whispered calming words in her ears until the younger girl fell asleep. Tucking the girl in, Aubrey and Chloe quietly left the room and closed the door.

* * *

Chloe made it to the couch before she collapsed into a sobbing mess. Aubrey was right there beside her and collected her best friend in her arms and held her while she sobbed over her girlfriend.

"Oh my g-god Aubrey what am I gonna do?" She cried. She tightened her grip on her blonde best friend. She remembered helping her deal with her sensitivity to touch but she also wasn't in love with Aubrey, helping Beca would be much harder.

"Chlo, you've already done so much and you don't even realize it. Just be there when she wakes up, tell her that you still want to be with her and nothing has changed. Beca loves you and she opened up to you! That's so amazing Chloe, that's a huge step for her and you," Aubrey said softly. She rubbed gentle patterns on her best friend's back, calming her down.

"You're right. I love her Aubrey. I think…I might want to marry her someday," Chloe admitted, a blush tinting her cheeks.

Aubrey laughed, "Let's take it one day at a time. Besides, I bet Beca is going to propose first."

"We'll just have to wait a year or so and then we'll see," Chloe said with a wink.

"You should go wake her up in about an hour. You guys can talk and then we'll go do something fun or musical or whatever," Aubrey trailed off.

Getting up off the couch she pulled Chloe into a tight hug.

"You're an amazing person Chloe Beal. Don't let stubborn Beca push you away," Aubrey said softly.

"I won't," Chloe vowed.

Aubrey went back into her room to work on the set list for nationals and Chloe went back into her bedroom to find Beca sleeping peacefully; a small smile on the alternative girl's face. She looked so…young and innocent.

Chloe sighed and laid down in the bed next to her girlfriend. She turned on her iTunes softly in the background, put on titanium, and began to hum along, waiting for Beca to wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was pretty depressing. Obviously for the sake of my story, Beca's Dad is not an English professor; she just went to college to escape her old life before she moves out to L.A.   
> So anything you'd like to see more of? More Aubrey? Less Aubrey?   
> Thanks so much for reading


	6. Chapter 6

When Beca woke up the next morning she sat up slowly only to realize she wasn't in her bed. She wasn't even in her dorm room and she's confused. The confusion faded after about 10 seconds when the events of the previous day came crashing back down on her. She expected to be more upset than she actually was. She was actually really glad she'd told her girlfriend, now they could move on.

The young Bella was a little disappointed that Chloe wasn't there when she woke up. Getting out of the bed, Beca pulled on one of Chloe's jackets and wandered out into the living room area of Chloe and Aubrey's apartment. The young brunette saw her girlfriend making coffee in the kitchen and Aubrey was downing a bottle of water and judging by her appearance, she'd just come back from a run. Chloe was smiling and humming what sounded like one direction under her breath and Beca rolled her eyes.

"Y'know I like waking up to you guys a hell of a lot more than Kimmy Jin and her annoying as hell morning routine," Beca joked, making her presence known. 

Chloe looked up and met her girlfriend's eyes. She'd expected her to be distant and cold the day after opening up to her. Aubrey told her to be prepared for anything. The older blonde Bella knew that there were many ways to deal and she honestly wasn't sure which tactic Beca would choose.

Aubrey laughed lightly, taking a casual sip of her water.

"Nice to know we're more appealing than your Korean roommate who hates you," The blonde replied sarcastically. She tried to be subtle as she ran her eyes up and down Beca, trying to read her mood.

Beca offered the blonde an appreciative smile. At least she wasn't staring at her openly like Chloe was. That was exactly what Beca had been afraid of, Chloe not knowing what to do or say or how to act around her. Sensing how awkward it was getting, Beca opted for a quick getaway

"So I have class in an hour, I should get back to my dorm…shower…change, get to class," Beca said awkwardly, playing with the zippers on her girlfriend's jacket.

"Okay, Bellas rehearsals are from 6 to 8 tonight and then we're all bonding after," Aubrey informed her.

Beca nodded curtly. She walked over to Chloe who was staring intently at the coffee. She still hadn't said a word since she'd woken up.

"Bye Chlo, I'll call you later," Beca told her. She wanted to retain some sense of normalcy and that was a goodbye she used often. She leaned forward and hesitantly kissed her girlfriend's cheek, who nodded in response and offered the brunette a smile that actually looked more like a grimace.

The second the younger girl was out of their dorm Aubrey crossed the room and got right in Chloe's face.

"What the hell was that?" The tall blonde demanded, placing her hands on her hips in her 'no bullshit' pose.

"What are you talking about?" Chloe muttered, knowing exactly what her roommate was talking about.

"Could you have made that any worse? Beca just opened up to you and I'm sure she was terrified it was going to change the way you treated her and this morning you didn't say a word to her and you barley looked up from the fucking coffee," Aubrey reprimanded her roommate and best friend.

"Look I'm sorry okay? I'm just still…processing," The redhead sighed. She hadn't meant to be so closed off she just wasn't sure how to be normal anymore.

"Well process faster. Before you ruin your relationship," Aubrey told her coldly.

The tall blonde stomped out of the kitchen and into the bathroom. Minutes later she heard the shower water and knew that Aubrey was getting ready for class. With a deep sigh she trudged off to her bedroom to get ready for class as well.

* * *

Bellas practice that afternoon was awkward to say the least. Beca couldn't think straight no matter how hard she tried. Chloe was ignoring her. Chloe, the love of her life who promised to be there with her through everything, was ignoring her the day after she opened up to her. This was exactly the young brunette didn't open up to anyone; because no matter how different you think the person is, everyone leaves once they see how screwed up you really are.

Aubrey was at a total loss. She knew that Chloe was being a fucking idiot. Yeah, it must have been a shock to hear all the traumatizing events in the young alternative girl's life; it was heartbreaking but all the ginger had to do was comfort the younger girl but instead she was completely ignoring her. Aubrey honestly couldn't figure out what the hell her best friend was thinking. The tall blonde could see how lost and hurt Beca was and honestly all she wanted to do was give her young teammate a hug and slap some sense into Chloe.

She ended practice in just a short hour, seeing how She, Chloe and Beca couldn't focus and they were the three most crucial Bellas. All the girls seemed confused but left without much of a fight. Beca bolted out the door the seconds Aubrey dismissed them. The young girl had shot Chloe a longing look and Aubrey could swear she saw unshed tears swimming in her stormy blue eyes.

Aubrey walked over to Chloe who was looking sadly at the door Beca bolted out of and the two of them stared at it for a solid minute before the taller blonde broke the silence.

"I don't know what the hell is going through your head right now, but your girlfriend needs you. So get your shit together and go fix this before it's too late," Aubrey spat out. She quickly turned on her heel and left.

Chloe let out a deep sigh. She had a lot of explaining to do…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry that it's super short but I just wanted to get an update out. I know everything is probably pissed at Chloe and shocked that she'd react that way but you'll find out next chapter! Thank you so so so much for reading and please leave a review!


	7. Chapter 7

Chloe Beale was at a loss for words.

That, in and of itself, was a rarity. The ginger sat by herself in her bedroom, frustrated beyond belief. She needed to get her shit together, she knew that. Finally, after months of being patient and fighting and begging and being supportive she'd _finally_ gotten her beautiful girlfriend to open up her heart to her and trust her and she'd thrown it all back in her face.

"God I'm such an idiot," Chloe whispered to herself. Aubrey was right; she didn't deserve Beca at this point. The girl had obviously been traumatized beyond belief and it was amazing that was she was well-adjusted as she was. The ginger completely understood her younger girlfriend's need for personal space and lack of enjoyment when it came to physical contact for the most part, due to her scarring past.

Just yesterday Beca had shared her story with her and her best friend, who it seemed, was quickly becoming one of Beca's close friends too. The ginger felt beyond horrible that her girlfriend had to live through multiple terrible foster homes. Her heart had broken when she'd heard all of it, especially the rape. No wonder Beca was in no hurry to have sex with her. God, if it had happened to her, Chloe wasn't sure she'd want to have sex with anyone else, ever. 

Chloe sighed to herself. Ignoring Beca was without a doubt the worst thing she could have done in this situation. Chloe and Aubrey had both predicted to be completely shut out by the smaller girl in the morning but she'd been amazing. She'd come out and talked and participated and tried to be normal which was a lot more than the bright-eyed girl could say. Chloe was absolutely ashamed of herself. In her defense, the inner psychology major in Chloe had taken over, telling her to give Beca space because she didn't want her girlfriend to associate her with any of the memories she'd repeated the night before. It was a lame excuse and Chloe knew it, but it was at least half of the truth. The other half being that Chloe was completely terrified. She'd never met anyone with problems so real, granted of course she'd read about them but that was different; that was strangers going through hell and Chloe was an observer but to accept that those terrible things had happened to the love of her life just wasn't an option for the ginger.

Could she help?

What if she wasn't enough?

Pushing those thoughts aside, Chloe pulled herself out of bed and wiped the tears from her glowing bright eyes. She smoothed out her shirt and flipped her hair in the mirror, making sure she looked at least presentable.

The psych major cringed when she allowed herself to consider what Beca had without a doubt assumed, that her past changed the way she felt about her girlfriend. Of course nothing could be further from the truth; Chloe fell in love with Beca more and more every day, not that the brunette would believe her now.

She needed to talk to Beca, like yesterday.

* * *

Beca made her way across the quad and quietly stepped into her radio station. She slipped off her jacket and hung it on the back of her chair with shaky hands. Her heart dropped when she glanced up from the booth and she saw a stack of CDs. It reminded her of when things were simple. When Jesse was her best friend and she and Chloe had just started out dating. Chloe's reaction to her this morning was absolutely devastating. This is exactly what she'd warned herself about, you open up to people, and you get burned. Always.

The stormy-eyed girl had truly believed in her heart that Chloe would be the exception to that but she was wrong. She'd been burned. Again.

The short girl quickly shuffled some disks around and chose one she'd made a few months ago with a lot of Taylor Swift. Her eyes danced at the memory of Chloe braiding her hair while she made her mix. Chloe was the only person she'd ever let even stay in the same room as her with she worked. Quickly her mood dampened as she remembered her current situation with her girlfriend.

The brunette sighed; she'd really appreciated all Aubrey had done for her lately, never in a million years did the young DJ predict that the pair would become such good friends nor would she have expected Aubrey to share her story with her. It felt nice, knowing she wasn't the only one with a fucked up past around here. Exhaustion started to creep in on Beca and she fought to stay awake. Slowly, she eased back into her chair and set up the next hour's worth of mixes on queue.

Finally, she closed her eyes and succumbed to sleep.

An hour later Beca slowly opened her eyes and stretched. Her neck was sore from keeping it in the same position and she definitely had a headache. Groaning, the younger brunette turned around and stretched. All she wanted was Chloe. She wanted Chloe to sit in here and make fun of her "concentration face" and kiss her between sets. She wanted Chloe to wrap her arms around her and kiss her forehead. She wanted to listen to Chloe rant about her day and how she killed her bio test or how she 'totally nailed' that high note in that new Beyonce song in the shower that morning. She just wanted her Chloe back.

"Beca just hear me out," a voice pleaded.

Every muscle in the brunette's body tensed, ready to bolt. She turned around slowly at the extremely recognizable voice in the booth with her.

"Jesse I told you before, and I'll tell you again, fuck off," Beca said, her voice shaking with fear and rage. As the terror crept up her spine, she stood from her desk chair and face the demented boy. 

"Beca please just listen to me, I never meant to hurt you," the love-struck boy pleaded. His hands were pressed into his sides and he was trembling slightly.

"I'm so so sorry," He continued, advancing closer to the object of his affections.

"Back off Jesse. Don't come any closer," The alt girl warned, her own body starting to tremble.

Jesse seemed to be in a trance. "I never wanted to hit you, believe me. You shouldn't have made me do that. I get it; you're with Chloe to make me jealous. But baby I'm in love with you too, you don't need to make me jealous anymore," he smiled. It was clear based on his facial expression and body language that he wholly believed that he was telling the truth. 

"Jesse you're delusional I'm in love with Chloe," Beca said calmly, desperately searching for a way around the boy who was blocking the door.

"Don't say that," Jesse said angrily, advancing quickly on Beca.

"Back off dude," The blue-eyed girl all but growled, her hands curling into fists.

"Baby you're just confused," Jesse said, trapping her between him and the desk in the booth with his arms.

"Seriously dude fuck off," Beca tried to threaten, her entire body trembling with fear. The normally brave girl was paralyzed by the fear coursing through her system. This was a situation that she'd found herself in before and she was tragically aware of what would likely happen next. 

Jesse leaned forward and roughly pressed his lips on Beca's, as if he were trying to assert dominance. The brunette immediately tried to push him away but that just made the treble angry. He mashed his lips on the small girl's harder and pressed his hips against hers too.

"Isn't this better?" He whispered between kisses. Before she could scream his lips were back on hers and his hands began to wander under shirt, squeezing her breasts painfully. Tears started to leak out of the bella's eyes and she desperately tried to move away. No one else was here. No one was going to save her.

"What the fuck is going on in here?" A deadly voice asked. Beca's eyes shot open immediately.

Chloe.


	8. Chapter 8

Jesse turned around so fast his head spun. He immediately released his tight grip on the small shaking brunette and glared at the intruder.

"Chloe just back off okay? I'm in love with her and I'm not losing her to you," the Treble growled. Chloe sprinted into the booth, yanking the door open so fast the entire establishment shook. Beca was practically catatonic, unable to move from her spot; her shirt was still unbuttoned from Jesse's sloppy kisses and painful feeling up. The older girl's heart shattered into pieces at the sight of her girlfriend looking so unbelievably broken. Knowing that her tiny beautiful girlfriend had already been violated in her past and now had to relive that and cope with the trauma of more unwanted sexual advances sent Chloe into overprotective mode. She launched herself at Jesse, ripping him away from Beca and shielding the girl behind her in one fluid motion.

"You have 10 seconds to get the fuck out of this building before I call the police and have you locked up for the rest of your life. I won't tell you again. Fuck. Off. And never even so much as look at my girlfriend again," Chloe threatened, her voice deadly calm and venom in her eyes.

The treble's eyes widened, taking her threat seriously, he shot one last longing glance at Beca and took off.

The redhead redirected her attention to her devastated girlfriend, taking in the heart wrenching sight of the younger girl's eyes squeezed shut tightly, her fists gently shaking at her sides and biting her lip so hard, Chloe was scared she might draw blood.

"Beca?" The older girl questioned cautiously. She gingerly took a small step towards the brunette only to see her flinch back.

"Beca please talk to me," Chloe begged, reaching out again with her left hand.

The younger girl's dark eyes flashed to the ginger's for a moment before locking back on a random stack of CDs.

"I'm fine. You can go," Beca answered. Her voice broke but did not waver. It was as if she didn't feel anything at all, Chloe was at a loss.

"Beca please don't do this," Chloe whimpered

Suddenly the DJ's eyes flashed up to meet Chloe's. "Oh now you want to be there for me? Now how I feel matters? That's great Chlo, I'm so honored that you've finally decided to give a shit about me."

With that Beca turned on her heel, still trembling, gathered up all her stuff and stormed out of the radio station. Chloe stood there staring after her. All she could feel was pain and shame; she'd made Beca feel like she was nothing, like she didn't even care about her and now her beautiful girlfriend had finally had enough and was going to push her away. Suddenly it occurred to Chloe that Beca didn't have a car. She grabbed her belongings and rushed after the dark blue eyed girl, determined to stop her before she walked all the way home in the pouring rain.

"Beca!" Chloe called, desperately racing to catch up with the freshman.

But it was as if Beca couldn't hear her at all, nor did she have any interest in hearing her girlfriend out.

"Becs please," Chloe whimpered, reaching out and grabbing the younger girl's shoulder. The brunette wheeled around so fast Chloe flinched.

"I don't want to do this now. Or ever. You don't get to spend months, literal  _months_ easing me into this relationship and the idea that someone was actually,  _finally_ going to stay with me, and then take it all back because you didn't realize what you were signing up for," Beca snarked, her voice trembling and her hands shaking with hurt and rage.

"Baby please, that's not what happened just listen to me," the ginger begged. "You're right. I didn't know everything I was signing up for. I didn't know you were so brave and amazing on top of being talented and gorgeous. I didn't know but I do now and it doesn't change the way that I feel about you."

Beca laughed sardonically, "Then what? You were _so_ into how fucked up I am, you needed to ignore me and fuck me up a little more?"

Chloe could literally feel her heart break at the concealed hurt and pain in her girlfriend's voice. She felt beyond terrible that Beca felt this way and because of her. She would literally do anything to make her Beca understand that it had nothing to do with her and everything to do with her own insecurity.

"Beca please, just let's get out of this rain. I don't want you to get sick. Or at least take my rain jacket," Chloe pleaded, making a move to remove the jacket to protect her girlfriend.

"I don't need you to pretend to care now just because Jesse a-attacked me," Beca coughed painfully. Chloe's focus was directed to the dark purple bruises beginning to form at the base of her girlfriend's neck from where Jesse grabbed her so hard.

Chloe took the final steps between her and her girlfriend and gently caressed her girlfriend's throats, ignoring Beca's harsh flinch.

"Dude what?" Beca began, taking a half step back only to be stopped by Chloe's arm slipping around on her back to keep her in place.

"How badly does this hurt? Your voice is really raspy I want to make sure there's no permanent damage," The ginger asked softly, doing her best not to let her anger get the best of her.

"Fuck off," Beca hissed, flinching out of her girlfriend's grip. She moved to turn again but Chloe, exasperated, grabbed her wrist to hold her in place.

"I was scared okay?" Chloe said through rain-infused tears. "I was so fucking scared that I wouldn't be enough to help you. That I couldn't be what you needed. That's why I ran. Not because I didn't love you, or want you anymore. I was so proud of you for opening up to me but I was so fucking scared of not being enough for you. I have loved you every single day since the moment I met you. And I'm going to love you every day of forever. So please, forgive me. Because I would give anything to have you back in my arms again."

Beca's guarded eyes dropped and her heart split in two at the sight of her girlfriend crying and shaking in the rain. She was in shock. Her girlfriend had just said it, the words stuck on her lips just days ago, the words stuck in her heart since she met her.

Chloe loved her.

"Come on, let's get out of the rain," Beca said softly, reaching around and taking Chloe's hand softly in her own.

Chloe smiled a watery smile and squeezed Beca hand gently, leading them both to the car. Maybe there was hope for her yet.


	9. Chapter 9

Beca was still in shock from Chloe's tear-filled confession.

Someone loved her.

Someone loved  _her._

No, Chloe Beale  _loved_ her, which was an entire league of its own. No matter how many times or ways the younger girl repeated the phrase in head she still couldn't quite believe it was real. The alternative brunette couldn't find it within herself to be angry with her redheaded girlfriend for her evasive behavior for the past day or so because she was so overwhelmed by the idea of someone being  _in love_ with  _her._

"If you think any harder I think smoke might literally start coming out of your ears," Chloe teased gently. She reached over and captured one of her girlfriend's small hands tightly in her own. "Care to share with the rest of the class?"

Beca smirked, her snarky comments were clearly starting to resonate with the ginger. She considered answering her question with a declaration of her own. The brunette had been meaning to tell Chloe she loved her for days now but the timing never seemed right. Even now, Beca didn't want the other girl to think that she was only saying it in response to her 'I love you.' No, Beca wanted more than that. She wanted to the moment to be special. The last person she had said that dreaded phrase to was probably her Mom, before everything happened.

She laced their fingers together through clasped hands and gently bumped her shoulder with the taller girl's, happy for any kind of contact right now that took her mind off of Jesse.

Jesse.

Even thinking his name was like dumping an entire bucket of ice water all over her, it sent violent shivers down her spine. She pictured his once friendly and charming face in her mind. How could those soft brown eyes that had once been such a source of comfort to her have transformed into the deranged evil orbs she'd been faced with just hours ago? Of course noticing her girlfriend tense up, Chloe's eyes snapped over to the smaller girl's face for any indication of the problem. She wanted more than anything to question the brunette, to peek inside her mind and understand what she was thinking between their distance relationship, Jesse's assault and her most recent confession.

By now the couple had approached Chloe's car and her inner gentle-woman took over, causing the older Bella to open the passenger's seat door for Beca and eased her into the seat, mindful that she might be sore or unsteady from the treble's unwanted advances. Beca flashed the other girl a thankful smile and positioned her legs so that one was in front of her chest being cradled against her body and the other hung naturally. Chloe frowned, she wasn't sure if this was a subconscious move on Beca's part, mostly likely in response to what had happened in the radio station or if she was simply sitting comfortably but not wanting to press, she said nothing and slipped into the driver seat.

The ride back to Chloe and Aubrey's apartment was mostly silent; the soft hum of classical music provided white noise as Beca stared out the window, lost in her own thoughts. Was she going to accept Chloe's explanation and just trust that the other girl wouldn't run away again? And more importantly, could she just move on and act as if she hadn't abandoned her when she was at her most vulnerable.

Another involuntary shutter traveled through Beca's body like a shockwave.

Vulnerable.

She hated the word almost as much as the feeling itself.

Chloe stole as many glances as her driving would safely allow. They'd been sidetracked by the terrible downpour of rain and made a break for the car as soon as she'd seen the anger melt away from Beca's eyes, not giving her a chance to react to Chloe's explanation or confession. The older girl would be lying if she said that she wasn't concerned with how her girlfriend would react. What if she was already too late and Beca wouldn't take her back? What if she was so triggered by her incident with Jesse that she reverted back to her most closed off state? The look in Beca's eyes before she'd led them back to the car was the only thing in her mind that kept her hopeful. The younger girl had looked at her with so much love and concern it made Chloe's heart burst. She'd promised herself that she wouldn't hurt Beca, broke the promise, and was still given another chance anyway. Her girlfriend had showed so much grace in that moment; she wanted to tell her how proud she was of her. Of course, she was slightly disappointed when Beca hadn't returned her sentiment but she knew that Beca loved her- or at least cared for her in a deep, deep way- and she was more than willing to wait for the other girl to come to terms with that before saying it back.

Burning questions still plagued the minds of both girls was they pulled into the parking lot and made their assent towards Chloe door. As Chloe unlocked the door to her abode she noticed Beca clear her throat, grimace, and gently feel her throat as if it were irritating her.

"It might be sore for a couple of days Becs, I'll talk to Aubrey," Chloe said softly.

Beca's brows furrowed. "And why would you do that?"

"Because I don't want you to sing with a bruised throat. It's going to be sore, you're going to be in pain and you're not going to tell anyone and then it'll get worse and you'll be sitting out for even longer."

"It's nice to know you think so highly of me," Beca sniped.

Chloe was already shaking her head, preventing the argument from escalating. "Consider it done. The second Aubrey hears about what he did to you there's no way she'd let you practice anyway."

Beca petulantly muttered under her breath about how unfair the other girl was being. Granted, she found it endearing that Chloe cared so much for her well-being but the Bellas practices were intense to say that least and that was exactly the kind of distraction the alt girl wanted.

Glancing around to make sure that they were around, Chloe pulled Beca into a backwards hug and wrapped her arms gently around the shorter girl's waist and tugged her against her body. Much to Beca's own surprise, she found herself relaxing in the embrace instead of being reminded of her past, recent or otherwise. A small smile played on the ginger's lips as she felt the tension retreat and the slump of Beca's shoulders. Encouraged by the positive reaction, she carefully tugged both herself and Beca to their couch. She situated herself first and pulled the dj into her lap with a gentle drag.

"You feel up to talking about it?" she asked quietly.

Beca nodded slowly. As much as she'd prefer not to revisit their issues or attack from Jesse tonight, she knew that Chloe would be restless until they did. And even though Chloe had all but destroyed her in the past few days, the brunette had absolutely no interest in retaliation.

"So where does this leave us?" Chloe pressed softly, after realizing she wouldn't receive a verbal response.

"I mean I think it's safe to say we're back together. If we were ever broken up? I don't know Chlo. The only thing I know is that I want to be with you," the DJ answered earnestly.

"You aren't still mad that I shut you out?"

"Mad? I was never mad about it. Devastated would be a better word I think," she mused. "I felt like I was in some sort of zombie state or something like I couldn't function."

The older girl felt her heart crack a little deeper in her chest at hearing her love admit that her childish behavior had cut her so deep.

"I am so,  _so_ sorry Beca," she whimpered, tears leaking into her baby blue eyes and threatening to pour over.

"Hey, hey don't do that," the small Bella admonished in a murmur. "I don't necessarily like that you did that but I understand. Hell if anyone understands getting scared and running away it's me. I forgive you. And now you need to forgive you too."

Chloe sniffled tearfully and met gentle and apprehensive dark blue eyes. "What'd I do to deserve you huh?"

Beca laughed softly, reaching out and pushing a lock of red hair behind her girlfriend's ear. "I don't know but if you used all of your luck on this I don't think we can expect to be National Champions again anytime soon."

Gasping in mock offensive at her girlfriend's insinuation and she playfully pushed the other girl's shoulder. Not expecting a sudden touch, Beca flinched back harshly and the sudden jerk caused her to slip off of Chloe's lap and into the parallel seat.

"Oh my God I'm so sorry, I wasn't even thinking," she apologized profusely, upset with herself for forgetting that in an ordinary context Beca didn't like sudden touches, never mind that she'd just been triggered horribly by the scum bag treble.

Beca waved her off while trying to control her pounding heartbeat "It's okay, you didn't know I was going to do that."

"No Becs, it's not okay. We need to tell the police about Jesse."

"Yeah that's not happening," she snorted, crossing her arms.

"And why not?" Chloe challenged, not at all liking Beca's nonchalant demeanor.

"Because it's my word against his and it's not worth all the drama and stress."

"Beca he attacked you. In a place where you both work and if I hadn't walked in when I did, I-"

"But you did," Beca cut her off harshly. "You did walk in and nothing happened. I don't want to talk about this anymore tonight. I'm beyond exhausted and I know you are too. Can we please just go to sleep?"

The older girl was torn. She knew that the responsible thing to do would be file a police report and at the very least begin a paper trail of the boy's harassment but she and Beca seemed like they were in such a good place and her girlfriend appeared to be finally getting more comfortable with her, physically and the last thing she wanted to do was upset that progress.

Against her better judgment, she nodded, acquiescing to the proposal and rising off of the couch.

"I'm going to shower really quickly, I know the radio station/old music smell lingers," Beca said, breaking their contact with a lingering forehead kiss and heading off towards the bathroom.

Chloe considered following her; she knew that Beca was not at all concerned with the –nonexistent she might add – smell of the station and wanted to wash away the feelings of unwanted touch. When she heard the lock click, her decision was made for her. She sighed heavily and made her way into the bedroom, alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends! I've been loving your reviews (special shout out to kimmania for all your support!!! ily) I also love feedback so if you have any thoughts feel free to share!! Until next time...


	10. Chapter 10

As the steam in the bathroom filled Beca's pores and relaxed her muscles, she wrapped the fluffiest towel she could find tightly around her body. She was unable to tear her eyes away from the mirror imagine of herself; she was disgusted. How could she have been so weak as to allow yet another person to touch her? Red marks were surely growing blossoms of purple around her neck and she couldn't even bring herself to look at her own breasts. She knew that harsh marks would be marring her skin and she wasn't anywhere near prepared to deal with that. She wrung her hair out quickly with a second towel and with unsteady hands; she brushed her chocolate tendrils until they were tame. She finished her routine hastily, glossing over her traditional moisturizer use and only brushing her teeth and rinsing with mouthwash.

Her skin was crawling. Her attempts to scold the feeling of wandering hands all over her body had failed miserably and all she could think about was how desperately she wished she could feel anything else. Unable to stand facing her reflection anymore the alt girl darted out of the bathroom and beelined straight for her girlfriend's room. She slipped through the door slowly to find Chloe sitting on the bed, looking adorable and sexy in her Victoria's secret blue pajama set.

It was about an hour later when Beca finally joined her girlfriend. And Chloe knew this not because the younger girl had made any noise and but due to the fact that she found herself unable to sleep; consumed by her worry for the brunette. The thought that Beca had only forgiven her due to her impeccable timing and ability to be a touch that the other girl trusted in a time where she was, once again, about to violated against her will had crept into her mind and didn't seem to leaving any time soon.

It was common knowledge that Chloe is a talker. She talked out her conflicts, her problems, her feelings- anything basically until the situation was resolved. Beca on the hand was the exact opposite; she avoided until the issue was so overwhelming that she had no choice but to face it. Their opposing preferences were not exactly a recipe for success. Regardless of the fact that the red head was still extremely ambivalent about how she planned to discuss her newfound concerns with Beca, as soon as the other girl entered the room she'd captured Chloe's full attention.

"Hey babe, how are you feel-," Chloe's question was cut off by a pair of soft lips crushing against her own with a level of passion and intensity she hadn't yet seen from Beca. The rest of the dj's body followed suite and still wrapped in a towel, the small girl straddled the ginger's hips. Chloe breath caught in her throat. Some part of her knew that something had to be wrong for this level of intimacy to be rushed but she was  _painfully_ aware that the only barrier between Beca's smooth skin and her was a flimsy towel and some thing silk pajamas. Wetness began to build between her thighs and Beca wedged herself in between her legs and allowed her full weight to press down against her. A moan flew out of Chloe's mouth without her consent and Beca's grin grew. She attacked the redhead's neck, nipping and sucking in certain places as she hunted for Chloe's sweet spot. She was rewarded when a spot just below the other girl's ear was hit and she sucked in a harsh breath.

"Oh there it is," Beca teased seductively, she traced her fingers gently along the other girl's arm, pleased with herself as she felt goose bumps rise up.

"Jesus Beca," she gasped. "I've never seen you like this before."

The brunette ignored the other girl's observation and allowed one of her hands to travel south and gently begin massaging the older girl's breasts. She glanced up to ensure that her girlfriend was still with her and saw her clear blue eyes were overtaken by extremely dilated pupils, giving her the encouragement she was after to slowly bring her other hand down to the spot where Chloe wanted her the most and began lightly teasing her by tracing circles just above her destination.

The Bellas captain was sure that this was some kind of sensory overload. She was no stranger to good sex but in that moment she was sure she'd never been so turned on in her life and Beca hadn't even touched her yet for God's sake. The gentle teasing from the other girl elicited a chorus of moans and breathy gasps from her mouth as the anticipation built up inside her. She reached for her girlfriend's waist to pull her closer and eliminate the minute amount of space that still existed between them.

And just like that, Chloe was brought back to reality when her sudden touch caused Beca to flinch harshly; both of her hands stilled and her dark blue eyes flew open, as if she needed to confirm that it was actually her girlfriend touching her and not a ghost from a distant – or not so distant- past. The red head was thankful that the motion felt similar to a bucket of ice water being dumped on her because otherwise she wasn't sure she'd have been broken out of her lust filled haze.

Predictably, Beca seemed to notice that her action had caused a change in Chloe's demeanor and that made her even more anxious to hide the feelings that were eating her up inside. As if to prove a point, she gently grasped Chloe's hands and placed them back around her hips; she cut the other girl's impending words off with a bruising kiss and returned her hands to their suggestive positions.

"Beca," The older girl began, only to have her lips sealed once more.

"I'm serious Beca stop," she said firmly, turning her head slightly to the side to prevent the other girl from cutting her off again. The brunette seemed shocked to have received such a firm reaction from her girlfriend and climbed out of her lap, sitting back on the bed.

"Do you want to tell me what that was about?" she asked quietly.

For the first time since exiting the shower, the smaller girl met Chloe's eyes and the older girl fought to keep her reaction neutral. Her alluring dark blue orbs held fear and something else that she couldn't quite place. She allowed her own crystal blue eyes to wander down her girlfriend's body and examine the forming bruises that had no doubt upset her Beca.

"I just wanted to pretend for like, 5 minutes that I was a normal person having a normal night with my girlfriend but I guess that's just not in the cards for me," she huffed, clearly frustrated.

"Baby you don't have a single thing to prove, you know that right?" she questioned softly. She reached out slowly, making a show of keeping her hand in Beca's eye line so she'd see her movement coming, and clasped the younger girl's hand in her own.

"I know. I just wanted to feel hands on my body…that didn't hurt," she muttered the last part, the ending words no doubt inaudible.

"I'm sorry I didn't catch that?" she prodded softly.

"That didn't hurt," she spoke up, locking their gazes. "I wanted hands on my body that didn't hurt."

Every time Chloe thought for certain, her heart could not possible break apart any more for the girl that held her heart she's proven wrong. It's impossible to be frustrated or mad, or even disappointed with Beca when she's just trying to deal the best she can. This night in particular was a huge stride for Beca. With very little prompting from her, the alt girl had explained to Chloe why she'd done what she did and the feelings that triggered the reaction. She was opening up.

"Come here," she called softly.

The older girl felt her heart swell with pride when her girlfriend, without hesitation, crossed the distance between them and crawled, non-seductively this time, into her lap. A few months ago, even weeks ago, Beca would have been hesitant to trust her so completely and give in to that kind of touch. Even after she completely tarnished the other girl's ability to rely on her by shutting her out when she needed her the most, the brunette still considered her a safe place and that meant more to Chloe than she'd ever be able to put in words.

"We're going to figure this out Becs. You and me," she murmured, gently rubbing her hands up and down her girlfriend's bare arms. It was bizarre to consider they'd been in an almost identical position just minutes ago for much more…heated reasons and now Chloe's touch was completely comforting as opposed to sexual. It made the younger girl feel so confident in their relationship, that Chloe could transition so easily to be what she needed; it was something she'd never had before.

The two stayed just like that until Beca started to shiver from the air condition and traded in her towel for an oversized t shirt and underwear. When the brunette came back to bed, Chloe curled around her protectively, as if to keep her safe from all the world's troubles if only for the evening, and sang quietly until the smaller girl found herself unable to keep her eyes open any longer and allowed herself to be lulled to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO I didn't have time to proof read this because I'm in the middle of the next chapter of Price but I couldn't keep that going until I got this chapter out of my head. Let me know what you think! /What you want to happen with Jesse. I'm still on the fence about whether Beca will go to the police or if she'll just let it go until things…escalate. Which would you prefer?


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning was substantially more awkward than Chloe had anticipated. The ending of their night together had made her feel so close to her girlfriend that she naively expected that feeling of intimacy to extend into this morning but when she woke up Beca was no longer in their bed. The ginger stretched and threw on her longue jacket before trotting into her living room to find her brunette girlfriend sitting across from her blonde roommate. The pair was talking quietly over matching mugs of warm coffee.

"Morning Becs, Bree," she acknowledged. "I didn't hear you get up babe?"

"Yeah, sorry," Beca said, clearing her throat awkwardly. "I just couldn't sleep anymore and wanted some water but Bree was here and I was tempted by coffee."

Her voice was scratchy, like it hadn't been used in a while and the blonde gave her a questioning look. They'd just been talking and the alt girl had sounded perfectly normal, but then again they'd been basically whispering to ensure they didn't wake Chloe.

Chloe smiled, her heart was warmed by the sight of her two favorite people sitting in the kitchen together, like this was a regular occurrence. If the older girl had her way, this  _would_ become a regular occurrence. The uneasy feeling that had been bubbling in her stomach since she woke up, rolled over, and saw her girlfriend gone did not dissipate and she wasn't quite sure why. On the one hand, of course she wanted to talk to Beca alone, especially in light of what happened the night, but they'd dealt with any seemingly urgent conversation.

"I was just going over rehearsal material with Beca for Monday," Aubrey offered helpfully. She could most definitely sense the tension in the room and hoped to ease it. The blonde knew better than to ask the younger girl any direct questions and she could always get the answers from her best friend later anyway.

"I'm not sure that Beca will be back to practice by Monday," Chloe asserted calmly. She helped herself to the coffee still in the pot and deliberately kept her back to her company. She was mildly irritated that it seemed her girlfriend was attempting to circumvent her wishes by not telling Aubrey about her throat.

"Why wouldn't Beca be at practice?" The captain questioned.

The brunette opened her mouth to answer her but Chloe spun around, coffee in hand, and cut her off.

"Because Jesse attacked her last night at the radio station."

Beca shot out of her seat instantly and stared at her girlfriend murderously.

"What the fuck Chloe? Why would you tell her that?"

Now that Beca's hair was no longer cloaking her neck, the blonde was free to see the purple bruises that were blatant and menacing-looking.

Aubrey let out a dramatic gasp. "Oh my God Beca Jesse did this? How? When?"

Beca completely ignored Aubrey's inquisition entirely and wrapped her arms defensively around herself.

"It's obvious that you weren't going to mention it and she has a right to know Beca, she's your friend," The ginger explained, she took a step closer to the table but made no move to touch her agitated partner.

"And that gives you the right to tell her? Just because  _you_ think that she has a right to know?" she challenged.

"Guys!" Aubrey shouted, getting the attention of both girls. "What happened at the radio station with Jesse last night?"

Beca huffed indignantly and refused to make eye contact. Chloe calmly turned to her best friend and softened her stance.

"I went to visit Beca last night during her shift, to explain," she gave the blonde a meaningful look knowing she'd understand the reference to their conversation about Beca. "When I got there Jesse had his hand around Beca's neck choking her in place and he was groping hard enough to leave bruises her all while shoving his tongue down her throat."

Aubrey covered her mouth with her hands in horror. Her eyes drifted between her co-captain and her friend in disbelief.

"Oh my God that's horrible. What are you going to do?" The questioned was directed at Beca but her eyes never left Chloe's baby blues.

"Call the police, mostly likely," she answered seriously.

"What!" The brunette snapped. "I never agreed to that Chloe."

"It's not up for debate," she retorted. "This is about your safety and I can't leave that to chance. He slapped you at Bellas practice in front of everyone and now he's  _assaulting_ you at work. This needs to stop."

Beca was visibly fuming; her hands were curled up into fists at her sides and she was aggressively grinding her teeth together.

"I agree," Aubrey nodded. "We can't allow this to escalate any further."

" _We?"_ Beca questioned incredulously. "I'm sorry – did I miss the part where Jesse assaulted the two of you as well?"

"Beca," Chloe sighed. "This is-"

"Don't 'Beca' me, Chloe," the brunette growled, cutting her off. "I told you I'm not going to the police."

"And I told you, I'm not taking a poll," she replied, remaining infuriatingly composed.

Seeing that Beca was possibly about to lose it, Aubrey took it upon herself to deescalate the argument.

"Relax, ladies," she soothed. "Beca, I agree with Chloe. You absolutely need to go to the police and with those bruises on your throat and the scratchiness of your voice; you do not need to be practicing with us until those heal."

The DJ's eyes were alight with fire. Chloe had been so understanding with her last night, they'd been so on the same page and this morning it was like they were living on separate planets.

"Whatever. I have to get back to my dorm and do homework," the short girl all but snarled.

"Beca wait," Chloe reached out for her hand but her girlfriend stepped back. "We have more to talk about."

"Yeah, well, it can wait until after I'm done with my stupid philosophy paper," she argued.

Chloe, sensing that if she pushed now nothing good would come from the interaction, nodded disappointedly. "I'll drive you home."

"I'm good, I want to walk," she argued.

"With psycho Jesse out there stalking you?" The ginger scoffed. "Not a chance. I'll get my keys."

With that, Chloe left the kitchen to get shoes, her wallet, and keys.

"Chloe is just trying to look out for you, you know?" Aubrey offered gently.

"I knew you'd be on her side," Beca muttered petulantly.

Aubrey groaned, "There are no sides Beca. Jesse is dangerous and this…incident has no doubt triggered her overprotective instincts. Humor her and let her drive you home."

The younger girl nodded moodily but said nothing.

"Seriously though, you should really think about going to the police. Chloe might be overprotective sometimes but she's rarely wrong, especially about this kind of thing."

Before Beca had a chance to respond, her girlfriend reentered the living room and jingled the keys.

The tall blonde gave her fellow Bella a sympathetic smile and nodded her goodbye.

Rolling her eyes, the dj stomped past the redhead looking annoyed and walked out the front door.

"Drive safe," The captain called her to roommate.

"Love you Bree!"

And with that the couple was gone.

* * *

The drive to Baker hall is only about 10 minutes with traffic and they'd already spent 7 of them in complete silence.

"Seriously you're not going to say anything to me?" Chloe asked.

Beca – who had previously been lost in a thought staring out the window - expected her to sound angry or irritated with her but instead she sounded wounded and instantly the brunette felt guilt wash over her.

"I don't know what to say," she offered neutrally.

Chloe swallowed harshly but didn't reply.

"I don't want to go to the police Chloe I meant that," she said quietly. "He's not worth it."

"I understand that Beca but I need you to trust me when I say that this is only going to get worse and I can't sit by and watch this guy torture you."

"He's harml-"

"Don't you  _dare_ try to tell me that Jesse Swanson is harmless," Chloe seethed, her hands squeezing the steering wheel in anger. "He stalks you, harasses you all over campus, declares his undying love for you regularly and you think he is  _harmless!_ Beca if I hadn't gotten to the radio station when I did last night he might have raped you."

The younger girl was taken aback by the amount of pure rage in Chloe's voice. She knew that her girlfriend was wound up over what happened but she didn't anticipate this level of anger. While it was a well known fact that the Bellas captain was an emotional person, it was usually bubbliness and at worst, sadness; the brunette hardly ever saw Chloe get genuinely mad and she had to admit, it was kind of scary.

"I'm sorry Chlo," she softened. "I didn't mean to upset you." She reached out and covered one of the taller girl's hands with her own.

The older girl took a calming breath and nodded. The couple road in silence for a few more minutes and then it struck the smaller girl that they should definitely be at her dorm by now. She snapped out of her thoughts and observed her surroundings only to realize that they weren't anywhere near her dorm and were headed to the outskirts of campus.

"Um Chloe did I miss something?" she asked.

Silence.

"Seriously what's happening? Are we getting food or something?"

Again, Beca was met with silence.

"Chloe you're starting to freak me out, say something!" Beca shouted. Her nerves had cranked up into hyper drive and she was full on starting to panic. This situation was startlingly similar to all the times she'd be taken without her permission and thoroughly abused by her multitude of guardians. Somewhere in her mind she was aware of the fact that she was sitting in the car with her girlfriend, hundreds of miles from any of the predators from her past but her heart rate refused to slow and her lungs wouldn't stop seizing.

Chloe's clear blue eyes widened at the sudden, on-set reaction from her girlfriend. She quickly pulled into the parking lot, put the car in park and cut the engine. Every molecule in her body wanted to freak out watching her girlfriend's sudden panic attack. She forced herself to calm down; otherwise she'd be useless to the other girl.

Unstrapping her seatbelt, she leaned over and made a move to unstrap her girlfriend's as well in case it was constricting her but as soon as her arm reached over the console and moved to undo the other girl's she was met with a violent flinch and wide eyes.

Chloe held her hands up in a defensive gesture and leaned back to her side of the car.

"Beca," she soothed. "I need you to calm down and breathe." She got no response from Beca, who was clearly not in the same car as her.

She reached out again, slower this time, and picked up one of Beca's hands in her own. Predictably, the other girl flinched away again but Chloe held on and pressed the smaller girl's hand against her own heart. She breathed as deeply as possible to exaggerate her air intake.

"Just breathe Becs. Just like me," she hummed. Beca was a person that didn't,  _couldn't_ , trust words so Chloe tried to reach her the only way she knew how, through music. She hummed  _Just the Way You Are_ softly. It was much more complicated than it sounds, humming a song while keeping her breathing steady enough to try and calm the other girl.

Slowly but surely, she could see some of the tension slip out of the brunette's shoulders and she slowly appeared to relax.

Eventually Beca's dark blue eyes cleared and Chloe could see the comprehension reappear in them.

"Hey there, welcome back to the land of the living," The redhead joked.

"Chloe?" Beca asked, clearing her throat. Her voice was scratchy and her recently bruised body certainly didn't appreciate the beating she'd just given her lungs in addition to everything else. "Where are we?"

Chloe winced, she'd been hoping Beca wouldn't lead with that question and she didn't see a way out of answering it.

"Beca…I brought you here because I love you and this is the right thing to do. I hope you realize that someday."

The brunette's head snapped up. "What does that mean?"

Glancing around urgently, it occurred to the alt girl immediately that her girlfriend brought them to the police station, against her wishes.

"Hear me out," the ginger pleaded. She saw the wheels turning in Beca's head and she wanted to speak before the sting of betrayal deafened her. "I don't want to force you. God knows enough people in your life have made you do things without giving you a choice and I don't want to be added to that list. But I'm walking into that police station and reporting what Jesse did, with or without you."

She reached out and took Beca's other hand and held both of them tightly in her own.

"I'm not willing to take any chances when it comes to your safety. I'm sorry if you're mad and I promise we can talk about it later if you want to but we need to do this and we need to do it right now."

The brunette seemed to be absorbing the singer's words but her dark blue orbs revealed no emotion.

"Say something, please."

**Hello friends, long time no see. For those of you who aren't in college yet, trust me when I say it's more time consuming than you could ever imagine. For those of you also in school, I'm sure you feel my pain. So Chloe's kinda harsh in this chapter right? I'm kinda proud of her though, Beca definitely needs to report Jesse to the cops. Let's just hope she's not too mad with our girl when she's done.**

**Please let me know how you're feeling about this story! I always love suggestions and constructive criticism.**

**I've started the next chapter so that hopefully it'll be easier to jump back in when I have some time to write again.**

**For those of you who read my ~other stories~ I have the next chapter of Price but it needs some editing so be on the lookout for that soon.**

**Love you all and thanks for sticking with me!**


	12. Chapter 12

"I'm not…mad," Beca cleared her throat. "Well, actually that's a lie. I am mad that you're trying to force this on me. It's not fair."

Chloe breathed a sigh of relief at how well her firecracker girlfriend was taking the news. She'd fully expected a blow up of some kind or to be completely shut out after the brunette realized where she had taken them.

"I know that," Chloe assured her. "But I am not willing to wait around for Jesse to attack you again. By the time you realize that he's a serious threat it might be too late for the police to do anything."

"It's still my call Chloe and you're making it for me," she argued.

"Beca, I am doing this because I love you and I need you to be safe. No other reason. This way Jesse will at least be on the police's radar and they can order you some kind of protection detail or something. A restraining order at the very least," she offered.

"Yeah because Barden PD is the epitome of top notch protection," Beca quipped.

"They're better than nothing Becs," she reasoned.

The brunette nodded, realizing that this was a battle she would not win. She had no doubt that Chloe was 100% serious about storming into the police station with or without her and this would probably go more smoothly if she accompanied her girlfriend to make sure that she didn't go off on the cops.

"Let's just get this over with okay?" she huffed.

Not giving the Bellas captain a chance to respond, she slipped out of the car and slammed the door shut behind her. Her ribs still felt like they were on fire from her panic attack and weren't happy with her sudden movement but she forced herself to keep from wincing; she certainly didn't need to give Chloe any more ammunition to get fired up over something concerning her.

Feeling victorious, the redhead followed her girl out of the car, careful to lock it behind her. She caught up to her short girlfriend despite her speed-walking in just a few quick strides. She considered taking Beca's hand and God did she want to, but she thought better of it because A. her girlfriend wasn't exactly thrilled with her at the moment and B. the police didn't need any reason to dislike her or Beca. She probably should've mentioned to Beca prior to their entering the station that she thought it would be a better idea to not mention the true nature of their relationship. On the off chance that anyone in the police station was homophobic, better not to give them any reason to take their complaint less seriously.

As the couple approached the counter, the secretary glanced up and gave them a once over.

"How can I help you ladies?" she asked, sounding bored.

"We need to report an assault," Chloe lead, cutting Beca off before she got the chance to downplay the incident.

The woman's eyes widened. She couldn't have been more than 25 years old and Chloe guessed that she was most likely a fellow student at Barden.

"I'll get one of the detectives right away," she said, scuffling out of her seat and into the back room.

Beca sighed, letting Chloe know exactly how dissatisfied she was with the way that the current situation was playing out.

"You didn't have to say it like that," she mumbled.

"What was I supposed to call it?" The ginger challenged. "Would you have preferred if I reported an attempted rape?"

Immediately Beca's cheeks flushed with embarrassment and irritation but she said nothing.

Almost instantly Chloe felt badly, this was obviously very hard on the brunette and her attitude certainly wasn't helping to put the other girl at ease. As they waited for the young woman to return with an officer, it occurred to the senior that Beca probably felt uneasy in police stations in general, given her past. For all intents and purposes, Beca should have reported a number of men and women for abusing her in the past. Because of their fear tactics, the DJ had been conditioned not trust police and not ever to tell adults about her situations. And now Chloe was all but demanding that she go against every survival instinct she'd ever been taught and reach out for help.

A booming voice reverberated through the lobby of the police station and right away Chloe noticed that Beca was beginning to shrink into herself. Her shoulders hunched and her back tensed.

"Ladies, I understand you're here to report an assault?" He affirmed.

The lobby wasn't exactly filled with other students but even Chloe was annoyed that the man didn't even attempt to keep him voice down.

"Yes Sir, we are," the taller girl asserted.

He nodded deeply, "Come with me to one of the interview rooms and I'll take your statement."

The two college students followed the tall man in blue back to a grey interview room with an obvious one-way mirror. Beca felt uncomfortable and her skin crawled just sitting in the station but she forced herself to swallow her feelings of discomfort.

The man's nametag read Officer Taylor Lamberly and he pulled out a notepad and a manila folder with a form that read 'official statement' in the title line.

"Can I get your names for the record?" he asked, not looking up from the form.

"Beca Mitchell and Chloe Beale," the latter answered.

Officer nodded but said nothing. Beca noticed that he was chewing gum and for some reason it made her dislike him even more.

Finally, he looked up and stared right into Chloe's bright eyes.

"Can you take me through what happened?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm not the victim," she clarified. Beca flinched violently at Chloe's term of choice.

The man looked slightly disappointed to have to look away from the ginger but nevertheless his eyes drifted over to the other girl.

"Then can  _you_ take me through what happened?"

Chloe opened her mouth and began to explain the first incident when Jesse came to the auditorium but before she could finish even the first sentence, the Officer cut her off.

"I'm sorry Miss Beale, I don't mean to be rude but I need to hear what happened from Miss Mitchell here," he said apologetically.

No part of Beca was surprised by the officer's request but she was still disappointed that Chloe couldn't do the talking for her considering she didn't want to be there in the first place.

"There's a boy on campus who has been following me around campus kind of," she began, keeping her eyes glued to the table. "He works with me, at the Barden radio station and we were friends up until a few weeks ago. I- he."

Chloe reached under the table and held her girlfriend's hand tightly in her own as a show of support. It had been hard enough for the younger girl to recount her past abuse to her in the privacy of her own apartment and now just a few days later she was asking Beca to do something similar with a complete stranger in a depressingly grey interrogation room.

Beca took a deep breath to calm her nerves and drew strength from her girlfriend's show of support.

"He showed up at one of my a capella practices. He was returning some warm up sheet music and he became…irate."

"Irate?" the officer questioned. "What do you mean by that?"

"He was agitated, his face was turning red and I saw him ball his hands into fists," the brunette clarified.

"And what set him off?"

"The a capella rivalry is always intense at this point in the competition season," Chloe jumped in. "Some pranks usually happen but Jesse was upset that Beca wasn't spending a lot of time with him anymore."

If Beca was confused or surprised by Chloe's half-truth it didn't show on her face as she nodded along with her explanation.

"Jesse came in and we argued about how busy I'd been lately. He has something of a crush on me and he's been asking me out. I've told him a few times that I wasn't interested in anything more than friendship but he wasn't hearing it. I told him he wasn't being reasonable and to stop acting like an ass," she shuffled uncomfortably. "He uh, he slapped me after that."

The officer nodded along and kept writing notes. "Is that the only incident of assault?"

Beca hesitated for a beat and Chloe prepared to jump in if her girlfriend faltered.

"No," she answered quietly. "We're here because he cornered me during my shift at the radio station last night. He declared his undying love for me and ranted about how destined to be we were. I knew I was in trouble because he had this crazed look in his eyes. He pushed me up against a wall and held me there by the throat. His other hand was groping my breasts and he pretty aggressively shoved his tongue down my throat."

The Officer wrote madly to try and write all the facts down without forgetting any.

Chloe was past concerned; she was shocked by how easily Beca was recounting Jesse's abuse. When she'd told her about her violent past, the younger girl had broken down and sobbed and the ginger acted accordingly, by comforting her girlfriend. She wasn't sure how exactly to help this closed off, seemingly emotionless girl currently sitting next to her. She made a mental note to ask Aubrey for her opinion when she got back home.

"And you're sure that you haven't done or said anything to give this Jesse the impression that you were interested in a relationship with him?"

Chloe immediately saw red.

"How  _dare_ you imply that -"

"I'm sure," Beca cut Chloe off quickly, squeezing her hand tightly under the table. "I've consistently told Jesse I wasn't interested in him romantically.

The officer ignored Chloe's outburst and finally looked up from his paper.

"Well, thank you for coming forward. Now I'm going to file this report and if you'd like, I can start the paperwork for a restraining order. We can order than he stay at least 500 feet away from you at all times. If you're still coworkers, you'll need to work that out with your boss."

The brunette nodded. As unhappy as she was to be there in the first place, she relaxed slightly at the news that she may be able to get a restraining order out of this. The small girl was confident that once Luke was aware of the situation he'd be more than happy to fire the other boy.

Officer Lamberly stood, pausing once again to give Chloe a hungry once over. "I'm going to type up this statement and then I'll bring it back for you to sign. Once my supervisor processes and files the paperwork, we'll get started on this restraining order."

Beca glared at him, very aware of his growing interest in her girlfriend. Normally it wouldn't bother her because Chloe was a generally overly affectionate girl and made it very clear that she was a happily taken woman. However for whatever reason, it was clear to the brunette that the other girl wanted to keep the nature of their relationship secret and she was compelled to go along with it.

Once Officer Lamberly had left the room, a silence fell over the couple.

"I think Officer Lamberly is going to ask for more than a signature from you once this is over," Beca snarked, sarcastically emphasizing his title.

"I wouldn't know, it's hard to notice when you're dating the most beautiful girl on the planet. Kinda makes you blind to the advances of horny cops," Chloe responded smoothly. She was still confused by her girlfriend's subdued nature. It was difficult for her to get a read on Beca's emotions and that made her nervous; she couldn't tell exactly how pissed the other girl was going to be with her and she was anxious to find out. All things considered, the interaction had gone relatively well but she knew Beca would still be upset that she forced her hand to such a degree.

The couple didn't have to wait long before the Officer returned to their room. He passed out two separate pieces of paper, Beca's statement and a corroboration form for the other girl. The brunette scanned the form to ensure Lamberly had accurately recounted her version of events. Nodding when she finished, she signed the form and slid it across the table to the Officer. Chloe too signed the form and passed it over.

"Thanks again for your time today ladies. I'll give you a call when I get the papers through." He offered sincerely.

The couple stood and collected their jackets; as they prepared to leave the room, Lamberly's brown eyes zeroed in on the taller girl.

"Miss Beale if I could just borrow you for a quick second?" he asked gently.

The Bellas exchanged confused and skeptical looks.

"What do you need to talk to Chloe for?" Beca questioned slowly.

"It'll just take a minute I promise. Miss Mitchell you can wait in the lobby and fill out a contact information form so that I have your number to call when I get to the restraining order." Neither girl missed that he had been addressing Chloe even though Beca had asked the question.

The young DJ realized that she had been dismissed and was slightly miffed by it but compliantly exited the room and filled out a contact form with the same girl from the front desk.

True to his word, the Officer only kept Chloe back for about 5 minutes. The ginger reentered the lobby and joined her girlfriend in the seating area but did not sit down.

"What did Officer hard-on want?" Beca asked with an eye roll.

Chloe chuckled at the brunette's nickname for the man and reached out playfully and pulled the other girl to her feet.

"Nothing, just forms and stuff. Let's get out of here."

As much as the shorter girl wanted to accept her girlfriend's answer, she couldn't help but notice how anxiety seemed to dance in the ginger's eyes and the way she had answered just a little bit too quickly. As the couple exited the building and walked about towards the car, Beca tried once more.

"Seriously, he just wanted to talk about the forms?"

"Yup," Chloe affirmed, unlocking the vehicle.

"Then why would he ask me to wait in the lobby?"

"Uh he mentioned some victim support group thing and he didn't want to make you uncomfortable," she answered.

Beca nodded, accepting the answer and choosing to trust her girlfriend. Or at least that's what she told herself, the uneasy feeling in her stomach didn't dissipate. "If you're sure," she added absently.

Chloe seemed to twitch under the scrutiny of her girlfriend's eyes in a way that Beca had never seen her do before.

The ginger would normally insist that she and Beca talk through the argument that they'd had over going to the police but she was also mindful of her girlfriend's school work so she dropped her off at her dorm room like she'd promised to do earlier. They parted with a chaste kiss to the shorter girl's confusion.

Chloe drove herself home distractedly, she almost ran over at least 3 pedestrians. She ascended the stairs up to her and Aubrey's apartment, closed the front door behind her and leaned against.

"Oh God what did I do," she whispered to herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooo a cliffhanger! any guesses as to what Chloe did?  
> I apologize if this isn't exactly what happens when you give the police a statement but it seems close enough.
> 
> ALSO I love everyone who reviewed! A lot of them were super detailed and so sweet and just really inspiring, so thank you!


	13. Chapter 13

As Chloe anxiously paced around her bedroom, desperate to plan her next move when she was disrupted by a gentle knock on her bedroom door.

"Any more of those circles and I think you're going to burn a hole in the floor," Aubrey teased, casually leaning against the doorframe.

Chloe looked up and met her best friend's eyes with a distressed look in her own.

"Chloe?" she asked, slightly frantically. "What's wrong, what happened?"

The blonde was no stranger to an emotional Chloe Beale but it was rare for her to see her roommate so…distraught. A wave of concern washed over her like a wave and instantly Aubrey was in big sister mode.

"Bree…" she whimpered. To her own horror, the ginger burst into tears that didn't seem like they would be stopping any time soon.

Immediately the blonde rushed to her side and pulled her into her arms. She traced comforting patterns into the back of her best friend in an effort to soothe her.

"Chlo please tell me what's wrong. I hate seeing you so upset," Aubrey urged gently.

"I'm gonna s-screw everything up for Beca," Chloe hiccupped, tears still pouring out. Her hands shook roughly as she attempted to return her best friend's consoling embrace.

"Shhh, Chlo breathe," Aubrey reminded her. She ran her fingers through the redhead's soft locks in, what she hoped, was a relaxing manner. "What do you mean you're going to screw things up  _for_ Beca?"

"T-there was a cop and he-" she managed to choke out. The inner war raging inside her was making Chloe sick to her stomach. But if there was one person whose advice she trust, it was Aubrey Posen.

Taking several deep breaths to calm herself down, Chloe squared her shoulders and retold the events of the police station to her best friend…

* * *

Beca paced back and forth for an hour in her room. She tried to do her homework, a valiant effort really, but to no avail. She couldn't get the other girl's squirrel-y behavior out of her head. Her hands were shaking and her heart was in her stomach. There were very few things that the brunette hated more than this feeling. Even if Chloe hadn't been acting strange, she did not want to be alone having just recalled her traumatic situation with Jesse. Yet another clue something was up with her girlfriend, Chloe would have never let be alone after something like this.

The feelings of anxiety were clawing up the inside of her heart and Beca knew she had to get out of her small room before she started climbing the walls. She shook herself out of her mental reverie, grabbed her keys, and left her room.

* * *

The noise of the door slamming startled Chloe so badly she quite literally jumped up from her seat. Thankfully the homework she'd be working on managed to stay on her desk but she'd ripped her headphones out of the laptop with the sudden movement. She turned around quickly, only to be met with the sight of her very angry girlfriend.

"Jesus Christ Beca, you scared me half to death," Chloe exhaled, her hand still over her racing heart.

"What the fuck  _happened_ in that room when I left Chloe?" Beca demanded. Her hands were on her hips and posture was stick straight, the picture of anger and confidence.

The ginger feigned confusion, hoping to buy herself some time.

"I told you, nothing happened. Langley wanted to pass on some information about campus support groups for victims of assault or stalking. There's also a bunch of counselors at the University and he wanted to give us some names."

Beca rolled her eyes and crossed her arms tightly over her chest. The shorter girl forced herself to calm down and take a deep breath as to avoid snapping at Chloe. Two deep breaths later she felt composed enough to trust her voice again.

"I don't need to study psychology to know that you're lying to me. Try again," she challenged. She finally looked down from the spot she'd chosen just above the Bellas captain's eye line so she wouldn't have to make direct eye contact while calling her out.

Chloe looked close to tears now and Beca felt the vast majority of her bravery crumble. Every part of her wanted to pull the taller girl into her arms and apologize for making her cry but she stomped down the dominant reflex in her mind to apologize and forced herself to wait for her girlfriend to respond.

"Beca…"

"Just tell me the truth," she pleaded. "Whatever it is, it's not that bad. I promise I won't get angry okay?"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Chloe disputed. She crossed her arms defensively and fought back hiccups.

Beca took a seat on Chloe's bed and steadied herself. "Do you remember when you first realized that I was holding something back from you? Something really serious?"

Chloe nodded, not trusting her voice.

"You told me that I could count on you, that you weren't going anywhere and you asked me to  _trust you_ , to trust us. And now I'm asking you to do the same thing."

The older girl sighed. She forgot sometimes how persuasive her girlfriend could be when she wanted to be. More than that, Beca was right. She had begged Beca to trust her and then almost ruined their relationship after the brunette had. Now it was her turn to take a leap of faith and hope that the DJ would make good on her promise.

"Okay," Chloe nodded.

Beca's face lit up, "Okay."

" _I just wanted to offer my condolences about your friend there," Officer Langley said, leaning in casually and putting a – what he thought – was comforting hand on Chloe's upper arm and gave it a gentle squeeze._

" _Thanks," Chloe replied, deliberately keeping her answer short and awkward. The air in the room was quickly turning uncomfortable for her and while Chloe was no stranger to unwanted advances from infatuated boys, she didn't exactly have a protocol for how to ward off these flirtations when they came from the officer in charge of her girlfriend's assault case. After everything that she'd gone through to get Beca to report it, she wasn't willing to do anything to jeopardize their chances at getting the best results possible from the campus PD._

_When it became clear that Chloe wasn't about to offer anything more for him to go off of, Langley cleared his throat and puffed out his chest._

" _I wanted to offer you some information for Miss Michaels. A lot of the time-"_

" _It's Mitchell," Chloe cut him off, emphasizing her girlfriend's correct last time. "Her last name is Mitchell."_

" _Right," he drawled. "I wanted to offer you some information for Miss Mitchell about the services we offer to help support the victims of incidents like this."_

_The singer allowed the tension in her shoulders to ease very slightly. It was possible that she and Beca had read into things and this was just an overly helpful cop with wandering eyes._

_The Officer, clearly misinterpreted Chloe's relaxed shoulders, and stepped closer to her, invading her personal space. The psych student's back was to the wall so her escape route would have to be very deliberate and not wanting to overreact, Chloe waited._

" _And I wanted to offer you my services," he whispered in what he thought was a sly, seductive tone. Chloe, on the other hand, thought he sounded like a 12 year old trying to talk dirty for the first time._

_Forcing herself to hold back a chuckle, Chloe responded in a normal volume voice, "I don't think I need counseling because of my friend's assault. Thanks though!"_

_She side stepped the Officer and made a move to walk towards the door when a beefy hand gently clamped around her wrist. Not painfully, but enough to prevent her from walking out._

" _I think you misunderstood me," he said slowly, as if Chloe were stupid. "I want you to have my number and I want you to call me anytime, for any reason."_

_Chloe sighed as she thought of a way to let the man down gently. Telling him about her and Beca was definitely no longer an option because he absolutely seemed like the homophobic type, or at least would take it as a shot at his masculinity which was the last thing she wanted. She could tell him she had a boyfriend but that particular lie often made things more complicated. Chloe hated to hurt people's feelings when she was able to avoid it so she settled on something in-between._

" _Officer Langley-"_

" _Taylor," he asserted with a yellow smile._

" _Taylor," she agreed. "You seem like a really good guy but unfortunately I'm not exactly…available at the moment."_

_The blue eyed girl was actually quite proud of herself for how genuinely apologetic she had sounded._

" _Oh," he pouted. "What does that mean? 'available?'"_

" _It means I can't have any kind of relationship beyond a professional one with you. It would be…disrespectful to someone else in my life."_

_Taylor grinned, "I'm not much of a snitch, despite what my job title would make you think. I won't tell if you won't."_

_The twinkle in his eyes suddenly became very unsettling to Chloe. Ordinarily, the senior wouldn't be this creeped out by some guy who wouldn't take no for an answer; it was nothing Chloe hadn't dealt with hundreds of times before. But ever since she had listened to Beca recount her horrible past to her, she looked at situations like this differently. She wondered exactly how many men had once said nearly the exact same thing to her girlfriend at one point or another._

" _Taylor," she began gently. "Again, you seem so nice but really I'm committed to someone who I love much. It's complicated, but all you need to know is I can't be what you want me to be."_

" _Well," He bristled. "If you can't do what I want you to do, then maybe I can't do what your friend there wanted me to do."_

_A shock wave traveled through Chloe's body and her hands felt numb. Was this man seriously insinuating what she thought he was insinuating? She mess around with him or else he wouldn't do his goddamn job and file his goddamn police report?_

" _Excuse me?" she replied, dumbfounded._

" _I think you heard me," he answered smugly. He ran a hand through his slicked back, greasy looking hair and pulled out his pocket-sized notepad. Clicking his pen, he wrote what was obviously his phone number down on one of the small sheets, folded it in half and handed it over to the beautiful girl in front of him._

" _There's my number. Let's say we'll have dinner on Friday, get to know each other a little better." He stretched one arm up against the wall and leaned forward in what had to be the universal stance of a douche bag guy._

" _Taylor I already told you, I can't-"_

" _And if we don't," He interrupted. "Then maybe I'll forget to file this report. Or, maybe, I'll get a little mixed up about the details. Maybe your friend has a huge crush on this guy. Maybe it's a game they play, who knows?"_

_Chloe was literally frozen with shock. She was sure that she looked stupid but her jaw was dropped open and her eyes were wide. She had assumed this kind of blackmail only ever happened in movies and yet here she was. The biggest surprise to her was that this seemingly harmless, dopy looking man could be so…devious. He had seemed so unintelligent but this was a scheme he had clearly practiced before._

_She nodded numbly, accepting the paper and shoving it into the pocket of her dark blue jeans._

" _Good, that's what I like to see. Text me details," he grinned widely. He stood up straight from his position looming over her against the wall and made for the door._

" _Oh and I hope your friend Beth feels better. Some guys are just the worst," he called over his shoulder._

_Chloe bit back the urge to correct him once again on messing up her girlfriend's name and instead let out an exhausted sigh._

_Wow she was fucked._

_Making her way to the lobby, she knew better than to share her interaction with Beca, who would without a doubt step back into the interview area, hunt Taylor down, and make her best effort to kick his ass. And Chloe had already seen her girlfriend's right hook, she had confidence she would be able to take the police officer in a fight. That said, her girlfriend did not need any more drama right now. She mentally coached herself to stick as close to the truth as possible with her story to keep from tripping herself up._

_Blinking away the salt water that had begun to form in the corners of her blue eyes, Chloe steeled herself and rejoined her girlfriend in the lobby._

_Beca looked up as she heard her approach, her stormy blue eyes were as enchanting as ever._

" _What did Officer hard-on want?"_

"Chloe…"

The brunette sounded devastated. "Why didn't you just  _tell_ me what happened?"

"I couldn't," Chloe reasoned, tears still lighting up her light blue eyes. "After e-everything it took to get you to report Jesse I c-couldn't be the one to screw it all up."

Beca shook her head slowly. She reached out a small hand and softly grasped Chloe's chin, lightly urging her head up so they could lock eyes. Obviously she was furious that someone would threaten her girlfriend and cause her so much distress. She wanted nothing more than to destroy Officer Langley but clearly anger was not what Chloe needed at the moment. She could explain things to Fat Amy or Lily later and get their help with destroying the man.

The senior was overwhelmed by the love and understanding she found circling her favorite pair of dark blue orbs. She had been expecting raised voices or maybe even tears or a storm-out. Any of those reactions would have been justified in her mind. Beca had been lied to countless times in the past and Chloe had  _promised_ her that she would not join the list of people who had been untruthful with the musical brunette and she had broken that promise. How many times did she answer with 'nothing' when Beca had begged her for the truth? And here her amazing girlfriend was, meeting her lies with compassion and gentleness.

"You could never be a screw-up. Ever," Beca promised. "There are things we can do. We can go to the real police, report Officer douche-face to his superiors. We're gonna be fine.

Chloe felt a huge weight lifting off of her shoulders. Maybe she didn't have a solution yet about how they were going to fix this but at least she and Beca were in this together. She stood up, pulling her brunette girlfriend with her and wrapped her in the tightest embrace she could manage. She planted an intimate kiss in Beca's hair, hoping the other girl could feel just how much she loved her.

"I love you so much Beca."

"I love you too, Beale."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of the reviews that I got on the last chapter and the one before that were so sweet and so helpful and for those, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, they're really inspiring. I got a few anonymous reviews and kudos that made my whole week they were so detailed and kind.
> 
> I am always open to constructive criticism, thoughts, ideas, concerns, always. But for future reference, please try to keep things on the respectful side.
> 
> Again, thank you so much to those of you who stuck with this story, you all mean the world to me. Happy reading!


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